quotations about ambition
Ambition is a germ which should produce an intense desire to make the world a better place in which to live, and should not be used for purely personal accumulations.
WALTER MATTHEWS
"Ambition", Human Life From Many Angles
Once set fire to the train of a man's ambition, and it will never cease to burn until it reaches the glittering "Catharine Wheel" by which he has been dazzled, or, failing that, has scorched the luckless aspirant to a cinder.
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
Ambitious men ought to follow curved lines, the shortest road in politics.
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
A Daughter of Eve
Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
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
It seems idle to rail at ambition merely because it is a boundless passion; or rather is not this circumstance an argument in its favor? If one would be employed or amused through life, should we not make choice of a passion that will keep one long in play?
WILLIAM SHENSTONE
Essays on Men and Manners
A man without ambition is worse than dough that has no yeast in it to raise it.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
Ambition is an uncomfortable companion many times. He creates a discontent with present surroundings and achievements; he is never satisfied but always pressing forward to better things in the future. Restless, energetic, purposeful, it is ambition that makes of the creature a real man.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
The (Southwest Texas State) College Star, June 19, 1929
Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.
ELVIS PRESLEY
attributed, "The many faces of ambition -- is it a virtue or vice?", The Wichita Eagle, February 14, 2016
Never permit restless ambition. Whenever you feel the force of ambition, direct your mind at once in a calm, determined manner upon that which you really want to accomplish in life. Make this a daily practice, and you will steadily train all your faculties and powers not only to work for the realization of that ambition, but become more and more efficient in that direction.
CHRISTIAN LARSON
Your Forces and How to Use Them
Ambition is only bad if it is an ambition for small things.
SCOTT CAIRNS
introduction, Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society
The ambitious sacrifices all to what he terms honor, as the miser all to money.
JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER
Aphorisms on Man
If your ambition is very strong, and is directed toward something definite, every action of your mind, every action of your personality, and every action of your faculties will become constructive.
CHRISTIAN LARSON
Your Forces and How to Use Them
If a person holds no ambitions in this world, he suffers unknowingly. If a person holds ambitions, he suffers knowingly, but very slowly.
ALAN LIGHTMAN
Einstein's Dreams
Ambition hath but two steps: the lowest, blood; the highest, envy.
W. LILLY
attributed, Day's Collacon
Never doubt what small men will do for great power.
PAOLO BACIGALUPI
The Windup Girl
Ambition is an idol, on whose wings great minds are carried only to extreme, to be sublimely great, or to be nothing.
T. SOUTHERN
attributed, Day's Collacon
I am unsettled by ambition. I am settled by ambition. I am torn with ambition. I am certain about ambition. Ambition is a blessing. Ambition is a curse.
DIANE GLANCY
"Dreams Are Dangerous; They Uncover Your Bones", Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society
Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease.
HERMAN MELVILLE
Moby Dick