Reflection on Criticism

Theodore Roosevelt famously stated that "it is not the critic who counts", and while his speech was delivered in the context of the behavior and role of citizens in a republic it has been repeated widely in divers contexts.

I present it here, as a way of reminding us all and primarily myself, that criticism is not the highest form of societal contribution. Rather, its merit is only measured by the value it brings to those who hear it.

For a finance blog, the value of any critique could be directly measured in the value it brings to readers. And yet, why not have a little fun along the way with reviews, interpretations and considerations of popular representations of financial situations!

Welcome to the arena!

The larger quote:

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, who 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 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 neither know victory nor defeat.

And the full speech -- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Citizenship_in_a_Republic.