Very few people are ambitious in the sense of having a specific image of what they want to achieve. Most people’s sights are only toward the next run, the next increment of money.
Ambition
Bardwick, Judith M.
American Academic
Ambition — it is the last infirmity of noble minds.
Ambition
Barrie, Sir James M.
1860-1937 British Playwright
All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.
Ambition
Beecher, Henry Ward
1813-1887 American Preacher Orator Writer
Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.
Ambition
Bierce, Ambrose
1842-1914 American Author Editor Journalist The Devil’s Dictionary
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.
Ambition
Bonaparte, Napoleon
1769-1821 French General Emperor
What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.
Ambition
Browning, Robert
1812-1889 British Poet
‘Tis not what man does which exalts him, but what man Would do!
Ambition
Browning, Robert
1812-1889 British Poet
Ambition is not what man does… but what man would do.
Ambition
Browning, Robert
1812-1889 British Poet
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
Ambition
Browning, Robert
1812-1889 British Poet
The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.
Ambition
Bruyere, Jean De La
1645-1696 French Classical Writer
Ambition can creep as well as soar.
Ambition
Burke, Edmund
1729-1797 British Political Writer Statesman
Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top.
Ambition
Burton, Robert
1576-1640 British Clergyman Scholar
He who surpasses or subdues mankind, must look down on the hate of those below.
Ambition
Byron, Lord
1788-1824 British Poet
As falls the dew on quenchless sands, blood only serves to wash ambition’s hands.
Ambition
Byron, Lord
1788-1824 British Poet
The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves.
Ambition
Casson, Herbert N.
American Author
Big results require big ambitions.
Ambition
Champy, James
American Author and International Management Consultant
When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.
Ambition
Cicero, Marcus T.
c 106-43 BC Great Roman Orator Politician
The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory.
Ambition
Cicero, Marcus T.
c 106-43 BC Great Roman Orator Politician
Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end.
Ambition
Colton, Charles Caleb
1780-1832 British Sportsman Writer
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
Ambition
Conrad, Joseph
1857-1924 Polish-born British Novelist
I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go.
Ambition
Cook, James R.
1728-1779 British Navigator
The passion of self-aggrandizement is persistent but plastic; it will never disappear from a vigorous mind, but may become morally higher by attaching itself to a larger conception of what constitutes the self.
Ambition
Cooley, Charles Horton
1864-1929 American Sociologist
I want to work with the top people, because only they have the courage and the confidence and the risk-seeking profile that you need.
Ambition
Cutler, Laurel
American Business Executive
Ambition is a Dead Sea fruit, and the greatest peril to the soul is that one is likely to get precisely what he is seeking.
Ambition
Dahlberg, Edward
1900-1977 American Author Critic
At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
Ambition
Dali, Salvador
1904-1989 Spanish Painter
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
Ambition
Danielson, C. Archie
Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.
Ambition
Denham, Sir John
1615-1668 British Poet Dramatist
It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.
Ambition
Eliot, George
1819-1880 British Novelist
Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
Ambition
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
1803-1882 American Poet Essayist
Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.
Ambition
English, Thomas Dunn
1819-1902 American Physician Lawyer
Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. Its appetite grows keener by indulgence and all we can gratify it with at present serves but the more to inflame its insatiable desires.
Ambition
Franklin, Benjamin
1706-1790 American Scientist Publisher Diplomat
The ambitious are forever followed by adulation for they receive the most pleasure from flattery.
Ambition
Goldsmith, Oliver
1728-1774 Anglo-Irish Author Poet Playwright
I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
Ambition
Grossart, Angus
American Business Executive
Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible.
Ambition
Hoffer, Eric
1902-1983 American Author Philosopher
Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.
Ambition
Horace
BC 65-8 Italian Poet
I shall strike the stars with my unlifted head.
Ambition
Horace
BC 65-8 Italian Poet
Where ambition can cover its enterprises, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of passions.
Ambition
Hume, David
1711-1776 Scottish Philosopher Historian
He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.
Ambition
Johnson, Samuel
1709-1784 British Author
To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
Ambition
Johnson, Samuel
1709-1784 British Author
We grow small trying to be great.
Ambition
Jones, Eli Stanley
1884-1973 American Missionary
Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.
Ambition
Joubert, Joseph
1754-1824 French Moralist
When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.
Ambition
Kaunda, Kenneth
1924 Zambian Politician President
Ambition never comes to an end.
Ambition
Kenko, Yoshida
A slave has but one master. An ambition man, has as many as there are people who helped him get his fortune.
Ambition
La Bruyere, Jean De
1645-1696 French Writer
He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.
Ambition
Lao-Tzu
BC 600 Chinese Philosopher Founder of Taoism Author of the Tao Te Ching
Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.
Ambition
Lilly, William
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition.
Ambition
Lincoln, Abraham
1809-1865 Sixteenth President of the USA
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
Ambition
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
1819-1892 American Poet
Greatly begin. Though thou have time, but for a line, be that sublime . Not failure, but low aim is crime.
Ambition
Lowell, James Russell
1819-1891 American Poet Critic Editor
Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.
Ambition
Lubbock, Sir John
1834-1913 British Statesman Banker Naturalist
Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
Ambition
Machiavelli, Niccolo
1469-1527 Italian Author Statesman
Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.
Ambition
Marlowe, Christopher
1564-1593 British Dramatist Poet
If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now.
Ambition
Mcafee, Mildred
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.
Ambition
McCarthy, Charlie
If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms.
Ambition
Miller, Henry
1891-1980 American Author
Ambition is not a vice of little people.
Ambition
Montaigne, Michel Eyquem De
1533-1592 French Philosopher Essayist
A life spent in constant labor is a life wasted, save a man be such a fool as to regard a fulsome obituary notice as ample reward.
Ambition
Nathan, George Jean
1882-1958 American Critic
Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.
Ambition
Otway, Thomas
1652-1685 British Dramatist
The tallest trees are most in the power of the winds, and ambitious men of the blasts of fortune.
Ambition
Penn, William
1644-1718 British Religious Leader Founder of Pennsylvania
Men would be angels, angels would be gods.
Ambition
Pope, Alexander
1688-1744 British Poet Critic Translator
When ambition ends, happiness begins.
Ambition
Proverb, Hungarian
Sayings of Hungarian Origin
Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
Ambition
Proverb, Italian
Sayings of Italian Origin
Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.
Ambition
Quinet, Edgar
1803-1875 French Poet Historian Politician
I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build.
Ambition
Rockefeller, John D.
1839-1937 American Industrialist Philanthropist Founder Exxon
The person who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition. There is no mystery in business success. If you do each day’s task successfully, and stay faithfully within these natural operations of commercial laws which I talk so much about, and keep your head clear, you will come out all right.
Ambition
Rockefeller, John D.
1839-1937 American Industrialist Philanthropist Founder Exxon
Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
Ambition
Rogers, Kenny
American Country Singer Actor
It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheats, to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will.
Ambition
Sallust
BC 86-34 Roman Historian
Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
Ambition
Scott, Sir Walter
1771-1832 British Novelist Poet
It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it.
Ambition
Seneca
4 BC � 65 AD Spanish-born Roman Statesman philosopher
The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
Ambition
Shakespeare, William
1564-1616 British Poet Playwright Actor
As he was valiant, I honor him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.
Ambition
Shakespeare, William
1564-1616 British Poet Playwright Actor
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
Ambition
Shakespeare, William
1564-1616 British Poet Playwright Actor
To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory and perfection of our natures, is the very principle and incentive of virtue.
Ambition
Sidney, Sir Philip
1554-1586 British Author Courtier
Every child has great ambitions. As he grows, he is bombarded by negative suggestions — you can’t do this; you can’t do that; be careful; look for security, and so on. Year by year, he experiences the realities of life, and his ambitions fade away. Figuratively speaking, most children die by the time they reach their adulthood.
Ambition
Sinha, Shall
Ambition if it feeds at all, does so on the ambition of others.
Ambition
Sontag, Susan
1933 American Essayist
Ambition is an idol, on whose wings great minds are carried only to extreme; to be sublimely great or to be nothing.
Ambition
Southey, Robert
1774-1843 British Author
There are glimpses of heaven to us in every act, or thought, or word, that raises us above ourselves.
Ambition
Stanley, Arthur P.
Ambition often puts Men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same position with creeping.
Ambition
Swift, Jonathan
1667-1745 Anglo-Irish Satirist
If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest.
Ambition
Syrus, Publilius
1st Century BC Roman Writer
Where there are large powers with little ambition… nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.
Ambition
Taylor, Sir Henry
1800-1886 British Author
So many worlds, so much to do, so little done, such things to be.
Ambition
Tennyson, Lord Alfred
1809-1892 British Poet
Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment. [The Root Of The Righteous]
Ambition
Tozer, A. W.
-1963 American Preacher
Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
Ambition
Twain, Mark
1835-1910 American Humorist Writer
Where ambition ends happiness begins.
Ambition
Unknown, Source
I too must attempt a way by which I can raise myself above the ground, and soar triumphant through the lips of men.
Ambition
Virgil
c 70 – 19 BC Roman Poet
Oh that I were seated as high as my ambition, I’d place my naked foot on the necks of monarchs.
Ambition
Walpole, Horace
1717-1797 British Author
Ambition is the last refuge of failure.
Ambition
Wilde, Oscar
1856-1900 British Author Wit