"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."
Theodore Roosevelt "Citizenship in a Republic,"
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
3 comments:
i taped his homecoming speech - what a guy! the kidz even stopped what they were doing and watched.
although i do not see eye to eye with him on many things, he is a genuinely true to himself and what he believes person. his panderings have not been nearly as heightened as those of his contemporaries.
how disappointed he must be of those in his admin who turned against him.
fyi - people like "sick to death of" dick morris turn my stomach. some things people need to take to their graves - if he spent 20 years in a pile-o-crappe, he should have kept it to himself.
colon bowel and others like him can turn to pudding for all i care!
The characteristic I like most about him and found refreshing opposed to other past presidents is his fundamental understanding of human nature and the fact that some leaders simply cannot be reasoned with. He had the willingness to explain it in terms even the most brutal of dictators understand.
To paraphrase Machiavelli ... when given the choice whether to be loved of feared, choose feared.. it is safer. Qaddafi and Assad heard him loud and clear in 2003.
I know confrontation is taboo to the coiffed hair and perfumed elite but it is the way of the street. And Bush was willing to take their disdain. That is why they hate him... he proved their way simply doesn't work. He exposed their lack of courageous leadership and judgment. He got it done while they only talked about a solution.
i liked when he said he'd rather be able to sleep at night than be popular (paraphrased) - i know exactly how he feels. to go to bed and put my head on the pillow in an uncompromising manner means soooooo much more than the praise of people. i know WHO i answer to in the end.
you are like that too, iopian.
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