It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done 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; 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 worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.
-Theodore Roosevelt

There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else.
-Theodore Roosevelt

To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any other exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object.
-Henry David Thoreau

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
-Theodore Roosevelt

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
-Aristotle, 384 - 322 BC

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.
-William A. Foster

I haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.
-Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
-Henry David Thoreau

All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
-Calvin Coolidge

Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning.
-Denis Waitley.

Decide what you want to be, pay the price, and be what you want to be.
-John A. Woodstoe