Modern Polymath

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, 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 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 neither know victory nor defeat.

                           -    Theodore Roosevelt

Awhile back, I had posted my previously written response to the question:  ‘Looking back on your life, of what are you most proud?’ (Read it here.)

After reading the above quote from Theodore Roosevelt, I guess I can sum it all by saying:  

“I am the man in the arena.”

So, when I say I am intimately acquainted with failure, don’t think I’m looking for pity, nor should you feel any for me.  Those who feel sorry for me when they hear of my defeats in the past can be grouped with those who, when told of my various successes, call me ‘lucky’.

It isn’t circumstance that determines the number of times you succeed, or the number of times you fail.  It’s the number of times you try.

                               -Micah A. Rousey  (Yep, that one is mine.)

Roosevelt’s entire speech (although long) is really worth the read.

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html