AMBITION
Quotes
1
Every man believes that he has a greater possibility.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
2
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so.
— Charles de Gaulle
3
As he was valiant, I honor him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him.
— William Shakespeare
4
Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.
— Walter Savage Landor
5
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
— Oscar Wilde
6
Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another’s fame.
— Baltasar Gracian
7
Ambition makes more trusty slaves than need.
— Ben Jonson
8
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.
— Samuel Johnson
9
A man’s worth is no greather than the worth of his ambitions.
— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
10
A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.
— Jean de La Bruy re
11
Ambition hath no mean, it is either upon all fours or upon tiptoes.
— George Savile
12
Ambition is the grand enemy of all peace.
— John Cowper Powys
13
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
— Robert Browning
14
The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
15
Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
— Thomas Alva Edison
16
Nothing is so commonplace as to wish to be remarkable.
— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
17
If Man, Ambition is the common’st thing:/ Each one, by nature, loves to be a King.
— Robert Herrick
18
One often goes from love to ambition, but one rarely returns from ambition to love.
— Francois de La Rochefoucauld
19
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
20
The treacheries of ambition never cease.
— Rubén Dario
Sayings
1
A woman who strives to be like a man lacks ambition.
2
Ambition lubricates the mind.
3
There’s always room at the top.
4
Where there’s a will there’s a way (or a beneficiary).
5
The way to go from rags to riches is to start by getting a decent set of rags.
6
Most people want to improve themselves, but not many want to work at it.
7
Ambitious people don’t make excuses.
Jokes
1
Judge: “Mr. Corbin, the police report says you’ve committed six burglaries in one week!”
Defendant: “That’s right, Your Honor--and if everyone worked as hard as I do, this recession would be behind us.”
2
The banker Salomon Rothschild was strolling down a crowded street in Vienna when he was jostled by a pickpocket. “Watch out!” warned his companion. “That fellow’s trying to steal your silk handkerchief.”
“So what?” said Rothschild with a shrug. “We all had to start somewhere.”