Hollywood Popular Artists

Jul 11th 2012, 16:00

By Meredith Goldberg-Morse

Actress, singer … political history enthusiast?

Modern day Renaissance woman Miley Cyrus showed off her intellectual side yesterday (June 10) on her way home from Pilates class, debuting a brand-new tattoo inspired by the words of former president Theodore Roosevelt.

(Check it out up close here.)

Situated on the 19-year-old's left forearm, the new ink reads: "So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." Miley is either an undercover history buff or really adept at using Wikiquote, because the words are a portion of a speech made by President Roosevelt at the Sorbonne, Paris, in 1910.

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The future Mrs. Liam Hemsworth isn't the only one who finds Roosevelt's words to be particularly meaningful—Richard Nixon was reportedly a fan of the speech as well, quoting it in his 1968 presidential victory speech and again in 1974 when he resigned from office. So, for those who thought Miley Cyrus and Richard Nixon would never appear in the same sentence … gotcha!

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The full passage reads:

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 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 up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for 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 he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

Hey, at least she picked something better than "speak softly and carry a big stick." Miley for President?

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