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Michael Dell tweeted “Win or lose, respect to @elonmusk for being the man in the arena” on November 2, 2022. Elon Musk replied, “Thanks Michael.” Dell’s post paired its praise with a passage from Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 address “Citizenship in a Republic”—a speech popularly known as “The Man in the Arena.”
What did Michael Dell say about Elon Musk?
Dell’s November 2, 2022 post expressed respect for Musk regardless of the outcome of whatever challenge or controversy lay ahead. CRN reported the wording as: “Win or lose, respect to @elonmusk for being the man in the arena.” The post included an image excerpting Roosevelt’s speech. Musk responded, “Thanks Michael.” CRN reported the exchange on November 3, 2022.
The exchange is brief: Dell offered public praise, and Musk acknowledged it. CRN also reported that the two men had known each other for years and referred to Musk’s 2013 Dell World keynote; that background is attributed to the publication, rather than independently established here.
What does “the man in the arena” mean?
The phrase comes from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Citizenship in a Republic,” delivered at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. “The Man in the Arena” is the speech’s popular name, not its formal title. The Theodore Roosevelt Center’s transcription includes the familiar passage:
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“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 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 neither know victory nor defeat.”
In the speech, Roosevelt contrasts the person who takes on difficult work with the detached critic. The passage values effort and commitment, including when they end in failure. It is part of a broader argument about citizenship, responsibility, leadership, and how people judge achievement—not simply a celebration of success.
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What Dell’s reference does—and does not—say
Dell applied Roosevelt’s imagery to Musk as a gesture of respect. That is Dell’s interpretation of the passage in a 2022 post; Roosevelt’s 1910 address was not an endorsement of Musk. The historical context matters because the famous excerpt sits inside a longer civic argument, rather than standing as a general verdict on any one public figure.
CRN reproduced an excerpt from the speech, while the Roosevelt Center’s transcription provides fuller wording. For the original context and text, the Center’s historical record is the more useful reference.
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