Posting quotes is fun

"The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true."

-John Steinbeck

Quote: The Man in the Arena

John Marco posted this today. I felt it was great enough to pass along (and keep for myself).

^^^

Yesterday while listening to the radio I heard this quote from Theodore Roosevelt. I'm surprised that I've never heard it before, because supposedly it's very well known. It struck me as the kind of thing that's particularly important to remember for anyone who is striving toward a goal:

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.

If you're a writer, published or not, bear these words in mind. I know that I will.