Philosophy of Life
One of my very favorite quotes, which greatly influences my philosophy of life, is from Theodore Roosevelt:
“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 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, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for 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, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
“Citizenship in a Republic,”
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
I’d love for my epitaph to be: “She dared greatly.”
May 27th, 2009
Teddy is my personal hero, and has been for a long, long time. I own no less than 14 biographies of the man, including his own autobiography of course. A simply amazing human being.
May 28th, 2009
Awesome quote.
May 29th, 2009
Great quote. I thought of you when I was watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last Monday – have you seen it? The scene where the English Channel swimmer, who came up short when she was young, finally realizes her dream in her golden years, and quips when asked why she did it, “Why not?”
Why not, indeed.
May 29th, 2009
I did see it! That was a great scene, and I enjoy her character in that movie. I’m not sure I’m shooting for the channel, that’s the great-grandmama of open water swims – but I’m pretty sure I’m good to do the Green Lake 1-mile swim at the end of June.