Quotes About Ambition

A man had to have something, he reasoned, to lose his mind in, at least once a day.

ambition on a beer budget.

We cannot fail to win—unless we fail to try.

appears that they want what the Russians have, the new oil and gold discoveries.

no one rose to exceptional greatness exclusively by being "a good soldier.

but cranes can

Victory comes only to those prepared to make it, and take it ~Tom Clancy

You are never satisfied, Comrade Captain. I suppose it is men like you who force progress upon us all.

the terrible irony is that when our current job turns out to provide neither much money nor much fun, we think we can solve the problem by getting a better job. So it goes on: an endless cycle, a miserable set-up, as satirized brilliantly in the UK sitcom The Office.

even though, as children, we hear our parents complaining every night about their bosses or co-workers, it doesn't put us off the world of work. We think it will be different for us.

If you're not very careful, your creative business, the very thing which you hoped would lead to liberty and riches, will instead trap you in a hell of hard-working poverty.

Not, of course, as much as Julia Roberts or David Beckham or Robbie Williams, but he found he wasn't really bothered about that. He was, after all, basically a simple, modest person at heart. Doing a short but honest day's work, doing it well and earning a revoltingly large amount of money would suit him very nicely.

As far as I could tell, he earned his hundred thousand a year by wandering the hallway with a Styrofoam cup of coffee, smiling at the pretty girls and scowling at the boys who didn't play sports. Somebody should have stuck a broom in his hand and made him an honest man.

Diane used to joke that I was getting in touch with my own inner asshole, but all I was really doing was claiming my American birthright. There's a sales professional lying dormant in each and every one of us, just waiting for a chance to blossom.

We only rise above mediocrity when there's something at stake. p. 174

Most people do not have the guts to direct their own movie - let alone star in it.

Talent was merely the underpinnings. To be an artist, you also had to have nerve. And to maintain nerve, you had to have drive.

The economic world, the world of the equities markets, just seemed like a perfect foil, the ideal backdrop against which to contrast this story about legendary amphibians from outer space, because everything these days is all about money. In this book (Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas) I'm hoping to illustrate that there not only are far more important things than money, but there are far more interesting things. (from NPR Interviews edited by Robert Siegel)

These are tough choices. You may find yourself torn between wanting to propose the very best, most effective solution you can and wanting to submit the most competitive proposal possible.

Chappe also had all sorts of ambitious plans for his invention; he hadn't intended its use to be so predominantly military in nature, and wanted to promote its employment in business.

He says his aim is poetry. One does not aim at poetry with pistols. At poets, perhaps.

Let me get it straight. Your father was king. You were his only son. Your father dies. You are of age. Your uncle becomes king. Yes. Unorthodox.

Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light.

You are an over-excited little man, with a need for self-expression far beyond the scope of your natural gifts. This is not discreditable. Neither does it make you an artist.