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Greatness in one’s present arena

I received the following quote from my nephew, my godchild, in Baton Rouge. It is a marvelous quote which in his own words he described as “motivational and timeless.” When I read it, the importance of character and strength came through for me. In whatever arena you or your loved ones find themselves, reflect and heed Theodore Roosevelt words.

It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong person stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the person 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 oneself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if one fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

“Person in the arena” excerpt  from “citizenship in a republic” speech

Theodore Roosevelt   speech at the Sorbonne in Paris April 23, 1910