Človek v areni

“Ni kritik tisti, ki šteje; niti kdo drug, ki s prstom kaže, kako se je nekdo močan opotekel, ali kako bi nekdo, ki je nekaj naredil, to lahko naredil bolje. Zasluge gredo tistemu, ki je Zares v areni, katerega obraz je zamazan s prahom, znojem in krvjo; ki se hrabro bori; ki se moti, ki znova in znova kaže svoje pomanjkljivosti, saj noben napor ni brez napak in pomanjkljivosti; a ki si dejansko prizadeva stvari narediti; ki pozna vélike entuziazme, vélike pripadnosti; ki se troši za vredno stvar; ki v najboljšem primeru na koncu spozna triumf visokega dosežka, in ki mu v najslabšem primeru, kolikor mu spodleti, vseeno spodleti z veliko drznostjo, zaradi česar nikoli ne bo sodil k tistim hladnim, zadržanim dušam, ki ne vedo, ne kaj je zmaga ne kaj je poraz.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

The Man in the Arena

“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, 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 1910