Quotes About Ambition

Ambition, love of power, covetousness, lasciviousness, pride, anger, and revenge—were all respected.

He thought of nothing, desired nothing, except not to lag behind and to do the best job he could.

Our real innermost concern was to get as much money and praise as possible. To gain that end we could do nothing except write books and papers.

At first, in the bustle of building and settling down, Pahom was pleased with it all, but when he got used to it he began to think that even here he had not enough land.

A man in motion always devises an aim for that motion.

I shall always remember that in this world one must expect no reward, that in this world there is neither honor nor justice. In this world one has to be cunning and cruel.

you talk of Bonaparte—why, when he was working toward his goal, he went forward step by step; he was free; he had nothing except his goal to consider, and he attained it. But tie yourself to a woman and you're bound hand and foot—all freedom gone.

He felt himself and did not want to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than he had been before.

all men seemed like those soldiers, seeking refuge from life: some in ambition, some in cards, some in framing laws, some in women, some in toys, some in horses, some in politics, some in sport, some in wine, and some in governmental affairs. "Nothing is trivial, and nothing is important, it's all the same—only to save oneself from it as best one can," thought Pierre. "Only not to see it, that dreadful it!

A man can do all things if he but wills them.

Wolfgang Pauli, to seriously consider quitting in 1925. "For me," he wrote in exasperation to a colleague, "physics is too difficult and I wish that I were a film comedian or something similar and had never heard of physics.

My ambition is to live to see all of physics reduced to a formula so elegant and simple that it will fit easily on the front of a T-shirt.

A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind.

Happiness consists in always aspiring perfection, the pause in any level in perfection is the pause of happiness

Talent isn't enough. You need motivation-and persistence, too: what Steinbeck called a blend of faith and arrogance. When you're young, plain old poverty can be enough, along with an insatiable hunger for recognition. You have to have that feeling of "I'll show them." If you don't have it, don't become a writer

One of the cheapest commodities in the world is unfulfilled genius. All of us want to be known as a unique individual, the one who broke out of the pack. So, you offer yourself up as a sacrifice and what you're afraid of is losing and being thrown back into the pack. One question taunts you. Do you want to have, or do you want to be?

Like so many creative men of his school he was hounded by an incessant restlessness.

If I can inspire people by showing that following a dream by working hard and being determined is possible, it's amazing.

Two things are necessary for great achievement: a plan and not quite enough time.

I don't want to be a star, merely dying.

So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far.

No sospeché la insignificancia de mi sueño. Creí haber concebido el sueño más vasto de mi generación: quse ser mago. Ésa era mi idea de la gloria. He aquí una súplica basada en toda mi experiencia: no seas mago, sé mágico.

Launched from tiny ankles, their legs shot up like guided missiles into atmospheres of private height.

There is a human striving for self-transcendence. It's part of what makes us human. With all of our flaws we want to go a little bit further than we've gone before and maybe even further than anyone else has gone before.