BATTLE OF LIFE
In the Battle of Life it is not the critic that counts;
Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
Or where a doer of a deed could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena;
Whose face is marred by dust and blood and sweat;
Who strives valiantly;
Who errs and comes short again and again;
Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
Who does actually strive to do these deeds;
Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion,
Spends himself in a worthy cause;
Who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement;
And who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly,
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls,
Who have tasted neither victory nor defeat.
~ Theodore Roosevelt |
