Words to remember in troubled times

[tous]

These words from Theodore Roosevelt have comforted me greatly over the years.

“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.”

[Rellik]

Those that can, do.  

Those that can't, teach.  

Those that can do neither, become critics (or juornalists).

[tous]

My father used to quote that if I was ready to give up on something that he knew that I could accomplish.

Thank you, Dad.

Another passage, from Raymond Chandler,  that has stuck with me over the years.  Read this one as a lad and it never fails to move me or remind me of what to strive for, especially the part: "He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world."

 

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.
“He will take no man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him.
“The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.”

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by tous

[janice6]

The words my father said to me were, "If you try your best and fail, there is nothing to be ashamed of". "If you fail because you didn't try, you are a failure!".

I am amazed at what I don't know, but try to do, and the resulting successes.

I remember engineers at work saying, "I would never try that, what if you fail?". 

[tous]

If I failed at something, my father would say, Now you know a way that it won't work.  Find a way that it will work.

He instilled in me the ability to ignore those that say, It will never work, and gave me a passion for making it work.

Again, thank you, Dad.

[Historian]

This is actually framed on my wall at work.

[tous]

Which this?

 

[Huaco Kid]

2 hours ago, tous said:

“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.”

SISU

[tous]

You're Finnish?

That is the only context I know for  sisu.

[gwalchmai]

Dang, I clicked on this thread expecting a list.

[tous]

I know that there are a lot of words there for a Georgia boy.

Mebbe you can ask your wife to help you.

[gwalchmai]

2 hours ago, tous said:

I know that there are a lot of words there for a Georgia boy.

Mebbe you can ask your wife to help you.

She has a cold and therefore little patience with me.

[Huaco Kid]

17 hours ago, tous said:

You're Finnish?

I'm just getting started!