Why does Rice play Texas?

Some may ask why a small school like Rice University plays such a big school like the University of Texas.  JFK said why…

… But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And
they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly
the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because
they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the
best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we
are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which
we intend to win
, and the others, too.

John F. Kennedy – September 12, 1962 – Rice University Stadium

JFKatRice

It is not the critic that counts…

This quote was given to me during a particularly trying time at work.  At the time, it felt like I was in the center of a storm dealing with issues from everywhere and everyone.   A good manager slipped this on my desk one day…

“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, and 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 the 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 know neither victory nor defeat.”

– Theodore Roosevelt, 26th US President, From CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC, Delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910.

Roosevelt, Theodore. History as Literature. New York:
Charles Scribner’s sons, 1913; Bartleby.com, 1998. http://www.bartleby.com/56/ .
27 Oct 2000.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…

This is a variation of the “It is not the critic who counts” made by John F. Kennedy.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

– John F Kennedy, 35th US President, 1961
comment quoted by William Manchester in frontispiece for The Last Lion
Little, Brown 83.

Simpson, James B., comp. Simpson’s Contemporary Quotations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988.  www.bartleby.com/63/
. 13 Sep 2003.