The Power of Persistence (or Why Your Critic Sucks)

The quote below is Roosevelt and it sums up a lot of truths I think we discover in our marriages, friendships, parenting, careers, etc. I think I am beginning to realize (and hope sometime before my 80th birthday can accept…) that perfection is not our ultimate goal. Our goal is to never stop—even G-d doesn’t ask for perfection, only that we keep going when that going gets (inevitably) tough. And you can’t really ask for a higher authority on perseverance, in my opinion. The critics of our lives, especially the critic inside, really don’t matter and that voice wins only when we slow down and give it an ear.

“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 and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, 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 he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”