Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech on April 23, 1910 called, “Citizen in a Republic”. The following is an excerpt from the speech that is often referred to as, “The Man in the Arena.” I have it framed on a wall in my house to remind my kids that they should never, ever listen to the negative people.

It’s important to me to teach my children this because there are ALWAYS going to be negative people.

Whether it’s someone who doesn’t like others to succeed, or those who are jealous of their courage because they don’t have it in themselves – there will always be negative people telling them things to doubt themselves or take them down.

Luckily my kids are becoming more and more like this Robert Downey Jr. quote: Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the fuck you were gonna do anyway.

Thank God they are getting better at this. I don’t think it’s the Roosevelt speech that made them that way though, I think it’s the influence their father has over them; he has perfected this art and I fuckin love it.

Anyway, here’s the Roosevelt speech. Some of you should read it and take notes.

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.