Quotes About Ambition

When one wants to be famous, one has to dive gracefully into rivers of the blood of cannon-blasted bodies.

Je suis fils de l'homme et de la femme, d'après ce qu'on m'a dit. Ça m'étonne... je croyais être davantage! Au reste, que m'importe d'où je viens? Moi, si cela avait pu dépendre de ma volonté, j'aurais voulu être plutôt le fils de la femelle du requin, dont la faim est amie des tempêtes, et du tigre, à la cruauté reconnue: je ne serais pas si méchant.

The nightmare is you spend the rest of your life being funny at parties and then people say, 'Why didn't you do that when you were on television?'

I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

The essence of America – that which really unites us — is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea — and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn't matter where you came from but where you are going.

If you shoot for the stars and hit the moon, it's OK. But you've got to shoot for something. A lot of people don't even shoot.

Wealth and rank are what people desire, but unless they be obtained in the right way they may not be possessed.

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

When I am gone, I do not want men to say Look at his piles of wealth, his cities, his palaces and fine clothes. " Genghis paused for a moment. "Instead I want them to say Make sure he is truly dead. He is a vicious old man and he conquered half the world.

What is the purpose of life if not to conquer? To steal women and land? I would rather be here and see this than live out my life in peace.

If you are asking if my family will take what they want, of course they will. The strong rule, Chen Yi. Those who are not strong dream of it.

I will finish what I have begun. I have said it. This is my khanate.

Why do you hurt me? What more do you want?" she asked, tears shining in her eyes. "Power over you, little one," he said, smiling. "What does any man want but that? It is something in the blood of every one of us. We would all be a tyrant if we could.

For the khan, we will take their cities, their women, and their lands. This is the great raid, the farthest strike in the history of the nation of Genghis. We will not be stopped.

He is no fool, Kublai. He understands far better than you realize. The khan's vast armies cannot return to being herdsmen, not anymore. He is riding the tiger now, my son. He dare not climb down.

If he had learned anything from his father's fate, it was to win, no matter how you did it. It was not important if someone else was hurt, or killed. If you won, you would be forgiven anything. You could be taken from a stinking ger and forced through the ranks until a thousand men followed your orders as if they came from the khan himself. Blood and talent. The nation was built on both.

Just as the kids are afraid of the dark, so too are grown ups scared of power. It lures, but, also, consumes. It's a game that mustn't never be taken lightly.

Kublai went on as if he had not spoken. "Before you all, in the lands of my enemies, I declare myself great khan of the nation, of the khanates under my brothers, Hulegu and Arik-Boke, of the Chagatai khanate and all others. I declare myself great khan of the Chin lands and the Sung. I have spoken and my word is iron!

There was no destiny in life, nothing beyond what a man could take and hold for himself.

I have not given thought to what comes after the battles. Perhaps I will rule. Is that not the right of a conqueror?

There is a world outside the one we know," he said softly, "with cultures and races and armies who have never heard of us. Yes, and cities greater than Yenking and Karakorum. To survive, to grow, we must remain strong. We must conquer new lands, so that our army is always fed, always moving. To stop is to die, Chagatai.

Now that we sharpened our teeth, let's use them.

A strong man could bend the sky to suit him, but only for himself, Temujin knew.