Quotes About Ambition

definite chief aim.

The person who makes persistence his watch-word, discovers that "Old Man Failure" finally becomes tired, and makes his departure. Failure cannot cope with persistence.

Finally, when young people who "want to help mankind" come to me asking, "What should I do? I want to reduce poverty, save the world," and similar noble aspirations at the macro-level, my suggestion is: 1) Never engage in virtue signaling; 2) Never engage in rent-seeking; 3) You must start a business. Put yourself on the line, start a business.

I have no large desire to sacrifice much of my personal habits, intellectual pleasures, and personal standards in order to become a billionaire like Warren Buffett, and I certainly do not see point of becoming one if I were to adopt Spartan (even miserly) habits and live in my starter house.

from increasing the number of people in the "tails," that small, very small number of risk takers crazy enough to have ideas of their own, those endowed with

how they use public office as a means to satisfy personal greed.

what they have is skill in getting promoted within a company rather than pure skills in making optimal decisions—we call that "corporate political skill.

Clearly risk taking is necessary for large success—but it is also necessary for failure.

growth in society may not come from raising the average the Asian way, but from increasing the number of people in the "tails," that small, very small number of risk takers crazy enough to have ideas of their own

The world is split between those who don't know how to start making money and those who don't know when to stop.

blinding people to the odds of success when engaging in ventures.

Have you ever wondered why so many of these straight-A students end up going nowhere in life while someone who lagged behind is now getting the shekels, buying the diamonds

we would see that their wishes and hopes are almost invariably at someone else's expense.

as self-interest can be the driver of growth.

I said that taking a "scalable" profession is not a good idea, simply because there are far too few winners in these professions.

I will retire on these profits

jealousy is to be found within the same art, talent, and condition.*10

That all millionaires were persistent, hardworking people does not make persistent hard workers become millionaires:

Recall that Fat Tony was in favor of just "making a buck" as opposed to being "proven right.

you need to know whether you do not like the pursuit of money and wealth because you genuinely do not like it, or because you are rationalizing your inability to be successful at it with the argument that wealth is not a good thing because it is bad for one's digestive system or disturbing for one's sleep or other such arguments.

But this clearly left me to seek ego fulfillment elsewhere.

all these considerations disappear because you have your mind on much bigger and better things.

Some blindness to the odds or an obsession with their own positive Black Swan is necessary for entrepreneurs to function. The

I may never know if Onassis was skilled or lucky, though I am convinced that his charm opened doors for him