Theodore Roosevelt

It Is Not The Critic
Who Counts

The famous powerful words of President Roosevelt below, inspired us to put aside our fears of failure and criticism and our feelings of unworthiness and to just get on with the job.

President Roosevelt personified the concept of everyman. It was said of President Roosevelt;

“His sympathy was so quick, his emotion so intensely human, that he penetrated the feelings of others often as if by magic."

Upon his death in 1919, the New York Times reported; “His servants were inconsolable.”

His coachman Charles Lee said through his tears; "I have lost the best friend I have ever had," and, when he could find voice again, "and the best friend any man ever had."

“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,
and comes up short
again and again

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.”

—Theodore Roosevelt