The Gladiator

It is not the critic who counts, not the man
who points out how the strongman stumbled,
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 and comes short
again and again; who knows the 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 know neither victory nor
defeat.

— Theodore Roosevelt