Quotes About Ambition

I think you've got to be truthful about the life you have. Otherwise, there's no possibility of achieving the life you want.

But the aims of life are antithetical to those of the dreamer, and the teeth of the world are sharp.

And she began rather to envy the stocky girl with the crush on Frank Sinatra, since she would settle one day, obviously, for a great deal less, and probably turn out children as Detroit turned out cars and never sigh for an instant for what she had missed, having indeed never, and especially with a lifetime of moviegoing behind her, missed anything.

Je n'étais pas boxeur, je n'étais pas beau, je n'étais pas chanteur, je n'étais pas danseur j'étais drôlement coincé la seul chose que j'ai pensé est que peut-être je pouvais être écrivain

Burke is a great man by nature, and is expected soon to attain civil greatness. I am grown greater too, for I have maintained the newspapers these many weeks; and what is greater still, I have risen every morning since New-year's day, at about eight; when I was up, I have indeed done but little; yet it is no slight advancement to obtain for so many hours more, the consciousness of being.

while you can buy your way to growth, you absolutely cannot buy your way to greatness.

It is very important to grasp that Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great. Indeed, we debated for a long time on the

What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?

A crucial aspect of purpose is that it's always worked towards, but never fully achieved, like chasing the earth's horizon or pursuing a guiding star.

tends to rivet our attention on the Icarus companies

Level 5 leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious, to be sure, but ambitious first and foremost for the company, not themselves.

those who strive to turn good into great find the process no more painful or exhausting than those who settle for just letting things wallow along in mind-numbing mediocrity.

Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.

It's not only the audacity of the goal but also the level of commitment to the goal that counts.

But there is a second answer to the question of why greatness, one that is at the very heart of what motivated us to undertake this huge project in the first place: the search for meaning, or more precisely, the search for meaningful work. I

The best BHAGs make you think big. They force you to engage in both long-term building and short-term intensity. The only way to achieve a BHAG is with a relentless sense of urgency, day after day, week after week, month after month, for years. What do you need to do today, with monomaniacal focus, and tomorrow and the next day and the day after that to defy the probabilities and ultimately achieve your BHAG?

For BHAG-driven people, the extended discomfort, the enduring quest, can itself be a form of bliss. When you commit to a BHAG, it lives with you.

Level 5 leaders: ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown.

Your mission must meet one overriding criterion: it must be compelling. The best missions have an element of genuine passion in them. Don't set a mission like this: To make and sell athletic shoes on a worldwide basis. Set a mission like this: Crush Reebok.

It is very important to grasp that Level 5 leadership is not just about humility and modesty. It is equally about ferocious resolve, an almost stoic determination to do whatever needs to be done to make the company great.

Good is the enemy of great. And

Darwin Smith stands as a classic example of what we came to call a Level 5 leader—an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.

Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious—but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

I... had no need for cheering dreams," he wrote. "Facts are better than dreams.