Man in the Arena

Theodore Roosevelt's speeches were masterful works of art. I can only imagine what it must have been like to hear this great man speak. One speech in particular has always struck a cord for me. Given in 1910 at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, this speech's official name is Citizenship in a Republic, but it is more commonly known as "Man in the Arena". In the speech Roosevelt tell us to not worry about failing, to not care about what critics may say, but instead to just go out and do. All that matters is that you try your hardest and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Below is an excerpt of the most famous part of the speech:

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, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

For me this speech always rang true, and gave me comfort when things didn't always work out the way I wanted it to. Make sure your face always has a bit of dust, blood and sweat on it.

To read the whole speech, you can view it here at the Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt.

For anyone interested in learning more about the life of Theodore Roosevelt, I would highly recommend Edmund Morris's trilogy. I have yet to read third installment, Colonel Roosevelt, but if it is at the same level as the first two parts (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex) it will be a good read.

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Photo: Theodore Roosevelt by John Singer Sargent, 1903

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic