A speech by Theodore Roosevelt in Paris 1910 that railed against cynics who looked down on those attempting to do great things.
“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.”
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Dogs Bark but the Train Keeps Going
There’s a Finnish saying that the “dogs are barking but the train keeps going” meaning that people will always be talking about you but it doesn’t matter. There will always be haters and naysayers but they can’t do anything to you—the train does not consider anything else on its path.