Folks who read a lot probably notice many authors quote the words of witty or pertinent sayings uttered by persons of renown. They try to make the quote validate, support, maybe confirm the point they are trying to make with their own thoughts and writing. In some cases it's the jumping off place for their thinking to develop. There's one quote I've found appropriate to my thoughts and actions that has stuck with me ever since I first saw it:
"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 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 up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worth 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 knew neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt
This quote is known as the "man in the arena" quote came from a speech - Citizenship in a Republic - he gave in Paris, France in 1910. How does it apply to me? If I were to give myself credit for anything, it would be that I have not been afraid to try things that were above me. If I had not I would have always wondered how I could rise without the effort. I did not want to be one of those timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. So easy would it have been to sit back and watch the world go by in some easy job. I never wanted to be the one in old age wishing that he should have tried.
