What does this quote mean?

“It is not the critic who counts.”

Participation matters more than detached fault-finding when achievement requires risk, effort, mistakes, and responsibility for an outcome.

Source note: Citizenship in a Republic, commonly called the Man in the Arena speech; Roosevelt contrasts action with spectatorship.

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Persistent effort improves the odds of useful results because steady work creates more opportunities for progress than waiting for favorable circumstances.

Source note: Poor Richard’s Almanack; the maxim appears in Franklin’s collected Poor Richard material.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”

The proverb presents patience as a practical advantage in goals that require time rather than immediate reward.

Source note: Poor Richard’s Almanack.

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”

Large achievements often depend more on continued effort than on a single burst of power.

Source note: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia.

“Ambition, energy, industry, perseverance, are indispensable requisites for success in business.”

The sentence presents business success as a compound result of sustained energy and persistence rather than a single clever idea or fortunate moment.

Source note: The Art of Money Getting, in Barnum’s discussion of thorough work and business effort.

“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”

Progress is framed as requiring energy and courage rather than comfort, while the phrase also acknowledges that effort can be painful.

Source note: Speech “The Strenuous Life,” April 10, 1899.