In the Arena

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, comes up short
again and again,
because there is no effort without
error and shortcoming;
but who does actually
strive to do the deeds;
who know the 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