The Critic Doesn't Count

Easy post but probably the most thought provoking of any I have every made. Too bad I didn't really write it.

I keep this quote with me all the time. I have other ditties which I am sure I will share in time (the equation for rate of return, a few measurement quotes, etc.) but this one, most of all, reminds me of who I want to be.

"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, and 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 the 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 know neither victory nor defeat."
 
-Theodore Roosevelt
"Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

So, I have shared and now it is your turn. Tell me your favorite quote or even advice.

p.s. Try to find a quote like this from the last five or ten years. Something as eloquent, thought provoking and timeless.  With so much "conversation" taking place these days I wonder why nothing stands out.

Comments

[Abby W.]

I don't have any amazing quotes, but I appreciated this one.