Transforming his body was only one step in the psychological struggle against what Teedie shamefully considered his "timid" nature. "There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first," he acknowledged, "but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid." As a childhood friend observed, "by constantly forcing himself to do the difficult or even dangerous thing," he was able to cultivate courage as "a matter of habit, in the sense of repeated effort and repeated exercise of will-power.
( Doris Kearns Goodwin )
[ The Bully Pulpit: Theodore ]
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