“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, the stalwart and valiant man, who errs and comes short again and again, yet goes forward again and again”
This quote has no known author and is recorded as an anonymous proverb.
About this quote
Roosevelt contrasts the man in the arena with the critic and the spectator, and the passage was written about his own view of political life. What makes it work as a definition of heroism is that it refuses to make success the measure: the man in the arena is the one who keeps going while still failing.
Source: Citizenship in a Republic