08/10/2023
I review a handful of concepts, books, articles, and talks yearly as part of my yearly goal-setting and planning practice. These pieces, and this practice, serve as periodic checkpoints to ensure I don’t stray far from the path I’ve set for myself on the way to being the best person I can be.
One of my annual reads is the following speech titled “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne by Theodore Roosevelt in 1910. Commonly known as the “Man in the Arena” speech, Roosevelt’s talk outlined his belief that the success of a republic rested not on the brilliance of its citizens but on disciplined work and character, the quality of its people.
He told the audience: “Self-restraint, self-mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage, and resolution—these are the qualities which mark a masterful people.”
Roosevelt firmly believed that one learned by doing. It is better to stumble than to do nothing or to sit by and criticize those that are “in the arena,” he explained. “The poorest way to face life is with a sneer.” It is a sign of weakness. “To judge a man merely by success,” he said, “is an abhorrent wrong.” In other words, the act of trying is success in and of itself.
This speech is a powerful reminder of the importance of aligning with one’s values. I love this talk and think you will too. Here's the most famous portion of this epic speech:
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.
