“…who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…”
Documented source
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About this line
Roosevelt gave this speech a year into his post-presidency, telling a packed hall what it actually costs to attempt anything real. The speech runs long; most people only know a few sentences. But the argument Roosevelt was making wasn’t about triumph. It was about the willingness to show up when the outcome isn’t guaranteed — and to keep showing up. We compressed to give you the heart of his speech. The full paragraph runs from “It is not the critic who counts” to “who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Why we carry this line
The credit goes to the one in the arena, not the critic in the stands. End of conversation.
What happened next
Roosevelt gave the speech at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. He wasn’t president anymore. He had left office just over a year earlier and spent most of that time hunting in Africa. The passage has long outlived the speech around it.
Richard Nixon quoted it in his resignation speech on August 8, 1974. Nelson Mandela gave a copy to South Africa’s rugby captain, François Pienaar, before the 1995 World Cup. South Africa won.
In 2012, Brené Brown named a bestselling book after it: “Daring Greatly.” That’s the phrase on our shirt.
