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.
NB I suspect i like this because of the Mandela connection with one of the all time great rugby stories.
Actually at the moment - I'm finding this mountain biking video rather inspiring - mainly because of the music and wonderful scenery that I've climbed/walked (rather than cycled) over:
Also from Theodore Roosevelt (Man in the Arena is his speech):
Get action. Do things; be sane; don’t fritter away your time; create, act, take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action.
Scholars have interpreted this quote, and Teddy's overall crazed drive as his way of staving off depression.
And from his counsin, FDR:
There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.
A few others that I've collected off of HN comments:
Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which way works better. - John Carmack
Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. - this, or some variation of this, was used in advertising for Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition
Paul Graham's lecture recently really cemented the idea of having a good life is just work on things that interest you and maybe something comes from it but it doesn't matter because you are still doing what you enjoy.
Exactly! People want things to come from it so they can finally do all they wanted. Why not do it now? Then adjust your priorities, lifestyle and consuming patterns as to lower both your needs and expectations, and you're less likely to feel let down by life. Does not work for power-hungry needs, of course.
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.
NB I suspect i like this because of the Mandela connection with one of the all time great rugby stories.
Actually at the moment - I'm finding this mountain biking video rather inspiring - mainly because of the music and wonderful scenery that I've climbed/walked (rather than cycled) over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA