From its very beginnings ambition was a political word, born of the Latin ambitus, the walking around that a Roman politician did when buttering up the voters.
—Dero A. Saunders (1914–2002) American Business Editor
He, who opens his heart for ambition, closes it for the rest.
—Chinese Proverb
From compromise and things half done,
Keep me with stern and stubborn pride,
And when at last the fight is won,
God, keep me still unsatisfied.
—Louis Untermeyer (1885–1977) American Poet, Anthologist
It’s them as take advantage that get advantage i’ this world.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
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.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Ambition, fueled by compassion, wisdom and integrity, is a powerful force for good that will turn the wheels of industry and open the doors of opportunity for you and countless others.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Ambition is the last infirmity of noble minds.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
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.
—John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) American Oil Magnate, Philanthropist
Ambitious men may not cease, but as a dog in a wheel, a bird in a cage, or a squirrel in a chain, so Budaeus compares them; they climb and climb still, with much labour, but never make an end, never at the top.
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
I think my greatest ambition in life is to pass on to others what I know.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer
If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third, place.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
So many worlds, so much to do,
So little done, such things to be.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Ambition is but avarice on stilts, and masked.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
All sins have their origin in a sense of inferiority otherwise called ambition.
—Cesare Pavese (1908–50) Italian Novelist, Poet, Critic, Translator
The slave has but one master; the man of ambition has as many as there are people useful to his fortune.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
Fling away ambition. By that sin angels fell. How then can man, the image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition.
—Michael Korda (b.1933) English-born Writer, Novelist
We often pass from love to ambition, but we hardly ever return from ambition to love.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
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.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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.
—James Cook (1728–79) English Explorer, Cartographer
Ambition can creep as well as soar.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
The only way to coast is downhill.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
We must love stupid people better than ourselves; are they not the really unfortunate ones of this world? Do not people without taste and without ideal grow constantly weary, rejoicing in nothing, and being quite useless here below?
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
Ambition and fleas jump high.
—German Proverb
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