Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less read more

Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where read more

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.

Be steadfast as a tower that doth not bend its stately summit to
the tempest's shock.
[It., Sta read more

Be steadfast as a tower that doth not bend its stately summit to
the tempest's shock.
[It., Sta come torre ferme, che non crolla
Giammai la cima per soffiar de' venti.]

Tender handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man read more

Tender handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.

The man who is just and resolute will not be moved from his
settled purpose, either by the misdirected read more

The man who is just and resolute will not be moved from his
settled purpose, either by the misdirected rage of his fellow
citizens, or by the threats of an imperious tryant.
[Lat., Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida.]

A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.

A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to read more

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

It was just him and me. He fought with honor. If it weren't for his honor, he and the others read more

It was just him and me. He fought with honor. If it weren't for his honor, he and the others would have beaten me together. They might have killed me, then. His sense of honor saved my life. I didn't fight with honor... I fought to win.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take read more

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor ; spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.