Business books give you tactical advice for right now, but little in the way of wisdom. I prefer to read classics and history as a reflection of what is timeless and permanent in life. What knowledge and wisdom has stood the test of time through the decades, centuries, and even millennia? Human nature doesn't change.
President Roosevelt is not what you might think of today as a model politician. Self-proclaimed adventurer. Nobel peace prize winner. American imperialist. Prolific author. Naturalist. Failed cowboy. He raised a volunteer cavalry for the Cuban war against Spain, and personally lead a charge against a fortified enemy position. He was a man of character, if nothing else!
Here is a passage from his 35-page speech given in Paris, 1910.
Man in the arena
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.
- Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt
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Thanks for reading,
Aki
Do you also find inspiration in history? Any striking examples in mind? Please share so we can benefit, too.