Besides some beautiful typography, breathtaking prose, and great delivery, what does this prose by Taylor Mali, presented by Ronnie Bruce, have going for it?

It touches on some cords that should be embedded at the heart of any writer’s strategy and writing voice. It touches on principles that should be embedded at the heart of any American. And, it captures the essence of powerful speaking,  powerful writing, and the need for proper, logical, rational, and thorough education.

Enjoy.

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 up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; But who does actually strive to do the deeds; Who knows the 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 worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-Theodore Roosevelt