and some people, dance

“Fear of failure can be a motivator or an inhibitor. The latter is crippling, and ultimately leads to a life of missed opportunities. That’s why Teddy Roosevelt’s most famous dictum, sadly wasted on the French during a speech at the Sorbonne, was praise for the person ‘who comes up short again and again,’ praise for the man ‘who fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’”

The bold print’s my doing.  I didn’t know this speech was addressed to the French (thank you Timothy Egan)!!  I argue against the “sadly wasted” bit, though.  Lots of daring Frenchmen out there — biking without helmets, walking on wires and unbuckling seat-belts in planes before the “fasten them, please” sign turns off.