quotations about ambition
Ambition hath but two steps: the lowest, blood; the highest, envy.
W. LILLY
attributed, Day's Collacon
Ambition is the fuel that holds the many opposing fragments of my life together. Ambition is a buffer zone. A war zone. All the contradictions that are within me.
DIANE GLANCY
"Dreams Are Dangerous; They Uncover Your Bones", Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society
I blame Alexis Carrington and JR Ewing. Then again, Gordon Gecko didn't help matters. The deliciously awful main characters of 1980's television shows such as Dynasty and Dallas, and films such as Wall Street, came to personify the idea that ambition is a dirty word, a short-hand way of describing ruthless, selfish, amoral people mercilessly trampling over each other in their efforts to seize power, money, status or all three.... And over the years the image has stuck. Indeed even the words used to describe ambition are harsh -- raw, naked, burning ambition anyone? The problem is that this cartoon image of ambition is not what true ambition is about at all. In reality, ambition is simply the desire to make the most of your potential to achieve something special.
RACHEL BRIDGE
"Why Ambition Should No Longer Be a Dirty Word", Huffington Post, February 26, 2016
The ambitious sacrifices all to what he terms honor, as the miser all to money.
JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER
Aphorisms on Man
Never doubt what small men will do for great power.
PAOLO BACIGALUPI
The Windup Girl
Ambition is a "lucifer" applied to a barrel of gunpowder, the explosion of which, where it succeeds in blowing one man into a niche, dashes twenty to atoms.
CHARLES WILLIAM DAY
The Maxims, Experiences, and Observations of Agogos
No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease.
HERMAN MELVILLE
Moby Dick
Ambition, in one respect, is like a singer's voice; pitched at too high a key, it breaks and comes to nothing.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
To appear unambitious amongst the ambitious is to invite loathing or fear. To be in the game, but not playing with intent to win, is to be the enemy.
JOSEPHINE HART
Damage
Oh, it's delightful to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them-- that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.
LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Anne of Green Gables
Ambition knows no gorge but the grave.
CARL SEELBACH
attributed, Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages
Is there an unselfish ambition? A tamed ambition? A sanctified ambition? I would like to think so, though it seems doubtful. Nonetheless -- thank you, ambition, for being in my life.
DIANE GLANCY
"Dreams Are Dangerous; They Uncover Your Bones", Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.
JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE
"Of Personal Merit", Les Caractères
Ambition is the force that makes amazing things happen in the world. Without it we would have no progress, no inventions, no innovation, and no change for the better. Indeed one person's ambition is the driving force behind many of the incredible achievements in our society, whether that be inventing the motor car, discovering electricity or creating incredible works of art.
RACHEL BRIDGE
"Why Ambition Should No Longer Be a Dirty Word", Huffington Post, February 26, 2016
Ambition is a devouring fire, who can poise it? It is a wind, who can fathom it? It is an abyss, who is able to recount the sources and issues thereof?
N. CAUSSIN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Ambition is only bad if it is an ambition for small things.
SCOTT CAIRNS
introduction, Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society
Ambitions tend to remain undisturbed by realities.
FRANK HERBERT
Children of Dune
There is no climax in Ambition's scope, Behold her wrestling with the angel, Hope, And beating back the Demon of Despair, Yet looking for a brighter crown to wear; Despair enchains her, Hope her transient guest, Unfurls her wings, and leaves her still unblest; But naught can keep her quenchless ardor back; She bears the struggling Demon in her track, Mounts on the wind's wild wings, her zeal on fire; And treads the paths to which her dreams aspire.
MARTHA LAVINIA HOFFMAN
"Ambition's Climax"
Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries.
MARY SHELLEY
Frankenstein