AMBITION QUOTES V

quotations about ambition

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

Tags: Jean de La Bruyere


Ambition is only bad if it is an ambition for small things.

SCOTT CAIRNS

introduction, Ambition: Essays by members of The Chrysostom Society


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

Tags: Lucy Maud Montgomery


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


Covetous ambition, thinking all too little which presently it hath, supposeth itself to stand in need of that which it hath not.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Sir Walter Raleigh


Ambition is a moot point when inequality remains so entrenched in modern society.

DAWN FOSTER

Lean Out


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

Tags: Christian Nestell Bovee


Ambition is but Avarice on stilts and masked.

ELIZA COOK

Diamond Dust

Tags: Eliza Cook


Ambition knows no gorge but the grave.

CARL SEELBACH

attributed, Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages


Ambition destroys the pleasures of the present in ardent aspirations after an imaginative future.

F. W. THOMAS

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: pleasure, future


Ambition, like a torrent, ne'er looks back.

BEN JONSON

Catiline

Tags: Ben Jonson


Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but disease.

HERMAN MELVILLE

Moby Dick

Tags: Herman Melville


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


The ambitious deceive themselves in proposing an end to their ambition; that end, when attained, becomes a means.

FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD

Moral Maxims

Tags: François de La Rochefoucauld


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


Ambitions tend to remain undisturbed by realities.

FRANK HERBERT

Children of Dune

Tags: Frank Herbert, reality


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

Tags: Josephine Hart


According to a British poll, you've only got a one in five chance of achieving your childhood career ambition. Which probably explains why you don't run into that many cowboys, princesses, or space rangers.

JAY LENO

The Tonight Show, Jun. 22, 2012

Tags: Jay Leno


We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement.

LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY

Anne of Green Gables

Tags: Lucy Maud Montgomery


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