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.
What it means
The people who matter are the ones who try, not the ones who stand aside and point out their mistakes. Whoever actually attempts something hard will make errors and fall short, and still deserves the credit.
Roosevelt’s measure is effort, not outcome. Even the one who fails “at least fails while daring greatly,” and is never among “those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
The context
Roosevelt gave the speech, “Citizenship in a Republic,” at the Sorbonne in Paris on 23 April 1910, the year after he left the presidency. It is a long talk on what a democracy needs from its ordinary citizens.
Just before this passage he warns educated people against cynicism: “The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer,” and he criticises those “who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt.” The passage, now known as “The Man in the Arena,” is his answer to them. Richard Nixon later quoted it in his victory speech in 1968 and his resignation address in 1974.
Why it matters
Criticism is easy and safe; trying is hard and exposed. Roosevelt’s passage is a reminder of which one deserves respect, including from yourself, when your own efforts fall short.
It also helps with the fear of judgment that stops people starting. The critics’ opinions count for less than they feel; the only way to be among those who know “the triumph of high achievement” is to risk the failure that comes with it.
About Theodore Roosevelt
26th president of the United States, 1858–1919
Theodore Roosevelt was born on 27 October 1858. A sickly child with debilitating asthma, he overcame his health problems through a regime of vigorous exercise he called “the strenuous life”, and went on to study at Harvard. He helped form and lead the Rough Riders in the Spanish–American War, was elected governor of New York in 1898, and was elected vice president, as William McKinley’s running mate, in 1900.
He became president after the assassination of William McKinley and served from 1901 to 1909, the youngest person to hold the office. He broke up corporate trusts, set aside national parks, forests and monuments, and began the Panama Canal, and his efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He died on 6 January 1919.
The source, and how we checked it
It comes from Citizenship in a Republic, speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 April 1910.
We matched the passage word for word against Wikisource's text of the speech, which dates it to 23 April 1910 at the Sorbonne. Wikipedia's article quotes the passage identically. We last checked this on 7 November 2026.