It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles – Theodore Roosevelt
In a previous article i partly covered this quote, as you can see in the link below, now i will address the entire quote.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena – Teddy Roosevelt
The entire quote goes like this:
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
As i previously pointed in my other post linked above. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., known as Teddy Roosevelt or his initials T. R., was an American statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer, he served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. Was the youngest US president and a Nobel peace prize winner. Without doubt Teddy was a very smart person, and this quote proves to what extent he was.
Splitting Theodore’s quote:
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;
Theodore Roosevelt
This part is straightforward, the critics do not matter much, especially the ones that do not have constructive criticism. From afar everyone can pretend to be able to do better, yet they don’t do, they just criticize. The credit belongs only to the person doing, and struggling, like a gladiator in an arena.
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;
Theodore Roosevelt
A continuation to the above idea. The doer is striving, struggling, making mistakes.There is no achievements without mistakes. But end of the day, the doer is the one striving to achieve the goal.
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
This man doing the deed, putting enthusiasm and devotion in his work. Sacrificing himself for a worthy cause. This man, if he triumphs will be rewards by accomplishing a high achievement, and if he fails, he fails as a fighter who dared and failed, and would never be associated with those who do not dare and thus know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore likes doers not talkers.
In this quote, Teddy, idealize doers, he associate a multitude of ideals with people who take action. I would not go as far as he did, but then again it depends what kind of doers are we talking about. This quote can apply to entrepreneurs, inventors, journalists, and many other professions.
Teddy have another quote about ideas with no execution that shed light on his was of thinking and makes this quote much clearer.
Dreams are a dime a dozen. It’s their execution that counts – Theodore Roosevelt
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