Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the U.S. and
winner of 1906 Nobel Peace Prize
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,…" 1
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." 2
1 "The Man in the Arena: Citizenship in a Republic"
Address delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.
2 "The Strenuous Life"
Hamilton Club, Chicago, April 10, 1899download as a PDF file
