Citizenship in a Republic
Citizenship in a Republic is the title of a speech given by former US President Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910.
A familiar passage after about a quarter of the speech reads:
“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 . ”
“It's not the critic that counts; not the one who draws attention to how the strong fall or where those who tackle could have done better. The credit goes to those who actually stand in the arena, whose face is dusty and sweaty and covered in blood; who tries bravely; who is wrong, who fails again and again, because there is no effort without faults and weaknesses; but who actually tries to do deeds; who knows great enthusiasm, great devotion; who devotes his energies to an honorable cause; who in the best case knows the triumph of a great achievement in the end and who, in the worst case, should it fail, at least in a bold attempt fails, so that his place is never with the cold and fearful souls who know neither victory nor defeat. "
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US President Richard Nixon alluded to this passage in his speech after his victory in the presidential election in 1968 and quoted it in his resignation speech :
“Sometimes I have succeeded and sometimes I have failed, but always I have taken heart from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, 'whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; (...) who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. '”
“Sometimes I was successful, sometimes I failed, but I always drew courage from what Theodore Roosevelt once said about the man in the arena, 'whose face is dusty and sweaty and covered in blood; who tries bravely; (...) which, in the worst case, should it fail, or at least fail in a bold attempt. '"
Nelson Mandela gave Roosevelt's speech to Francois Pienaar , then captain of the South African national rugby team , prior to the 1995 Rugby World Cup . South Africa defeated New Zealand's favorite team. In the film Invictus , which is based on these events, however, Mandela gives him a copy of the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley .
Mark DeRosa , an American professional baseball player, always used this passage from Roosevelt's speech before important games.
When Formula 1 driver Jean Alesi made his final lap at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix and drove to his only Grand Prix victory, then ESPN commentator Bob Varsha used parts of the speech and said Alesi looked like him Man in the arena Roosevelt had spoken of.
Individual evidence
- ^ Citizenship In A Republic . Design.caltech.edu. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ Nixon's resignation speech of August 8, 1974 transcript at Wikisource. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ^ British leaders: they're not what they were . Article of the Telegraph. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ↑ Recording of the report. Accessed on December 28, 2014.
