Theodore Roosevelt reminds us in this classic excerpt from his famous speech that hard work, tenacity, and a desire to do the right thing can get you far in life. Resilience, drive and working for a higher purpose are part of our success. It is the greater purpose of our effort that keeps us from laying on the mat even after we have been knocked down time and time again. It is this warrior spirit who sweats and bleeds in the name of a worthy cause that yields success through perseverance and determination.
Imagine if our forefathers crossing West did not have a higher purpose or worthy cause that burned within them like a hot coal? – JC
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.
CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC
Theodore Roosevelt
Speech delivered at the Sorbonne Paris, France
April 23, 1910
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