“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.”
This, by Theodore Roosevelt, is one of the great, inspiring speeches in all of human history. In a single paragraph, it perfectly depicts the native heroism of the human condition. Often quoted, it bears quoting again, and again and again, because every time you read it, it renews your faith in yourself, and reminds you that succeeding is not about not stumbling, but about getting up, again and again, after you’ve stumbled (again and again).
Perhaps you noticed that “again” was repeated, again and again. As was said of Hamlet, “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” In part II, we’ll be looking at the method in this madness.
humans tWisting 