Its not the critic who counts

Came across this wonderful quote from Andy's blog. Its so true in Indian context, where there are more talkers (critic) than doers!
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 short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows 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 know neither victory nor defeat.

-Theodore Roosevelt

"Citizenship in a Republic," Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Comments

Shanmuga said…
Great verses Anna..
Thanks for posting ! :)
9:11 PM
Jayakumar Balasubramanian said…
Thanks Jambu. I felt it reflects reality and I can connect to it at personal level.
9:32 PM
Bala Girisaballa said…
Jayakumar, Beautiful. Thanks for sharing this. I also learned that when you are in the arena, it transforms you, forever. You can take away the success or the failure, but you can't take away the transformation that forges your character.
12:42 PM
Jayakumar Balasubramanian said…
Bala, Glad to see your comment. Thanks for your words
1:04 PM
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