Freemason Wisdom: Teddy Roosevelt On Living Life

Teddy Roosevelt

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."

~Theodore Roosevelt

Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, NY

We all know that person--the one that lives their life safely along the sidelines, never afraid to tell those playing in the game what they did wrong and what they should do next, but completely unwilling to put themselves out there.  That person at the family picnic that never fails to point out your age looking down their nose at you while you're jumping on the trampoline with the kids.  It's that person that will give you twenty reasons why you shouldn't do something unconventional, and then when you're successful at it, they'll just say you were "lucky". 

Many of us life by the the credo "better safe than sorry."  But many of the men I've researched and written about over the years think very differently about that.  They believe it's better to be sorry than safe.  That no good thing ever comes without risk.  That it's better to try and fail than never succeed at anything.  They understand that life if very short, and it's better to get to the end of it with bumps and bruises, than get to the end of it with regrets. 

It's amazing what can be accomplished when you believe you can't fail. 

~TEC

Excerpted from A Freemason Said That?  Great Quotes from Famous Freemasons edited by Todd E. Creason.