You
know you're doing something worthwhile. You know it has value. You've
made mistakes along the way and felt huge self-doubt, amplified by
critics who seem to know
better but don't seem to be able to do any better. Read this, pick
yourself
up and stride on.
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
actually
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 not effort without error and
shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows
great enthusiasm, the
great devotion, 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall
never
be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
