Quotes About Ambition

Damon Galgut

Always try to rub up against money, for if you rub up against money long enough, some of it may rub off on you.

That's what I love about people. They have dreams and grand ambitions, and they start building towards them, even though they know they won't live to see them finished. That's how the pyramids were built.

There will always be another goal, another prospect.

Toil and blood, effort and hardship, these were payments worth making in return for a greater future. Ideals were never won cheaply, whether the cost was the raising of one dream city or the razing of another.

Anybody could rise above anything in America. ... No, they can't, Marie said, from the backseat. How was I supposed to break out of there? What were my people going to say? Uppity. That's what. 'Cause if I can, why can't they? But I tell you what, I don't even know how it's done. I never seen nobody do it.

This is number one, Mr. Namath.

If you are made for flight, intended for it, you had better find a pursuer, fast. Otherwise, all that fleeing is going nowhere.

Fake it 'til you make it.

But such niggling distractions on the periphery matter little once you've set your sights so squarely on what you want most. By

Why can't a musician try to make a cinematic "state of the nation" poem told through dream imagery and pop music? They may fail miserably or they may fluke a masterpiece, but at least they tried to push their creativity. As Howard Devoto, of the bands Buzzcocks and Magazine, put it: "Pretentiousness is interesting. At least you're making an effort. Your ambition has to outstrip your ability at some point.

As far as nanny work goes, I struck gold. Yet I was uncomfortable with being a college graduate and working as a less-cool version of Mary Poppins.

I can always feel better, look better, do better. I can learn more, sell more, buy more. I can do more, and do it faster. But what is the price of this perfection? Joy.

What Do You Want to Be?

Bright eyed, bushy tailed and fresh faced. These kids were Lawrences and Robbies that hadn't been in the league long enough to mature into Larrys and Bobs. They still had that earnest, hopeful glow like someone who cared was watching. Fame and endorsement deals would start flooding in if they could just squeeze out a triple.

I spent a long time writing in obscurity. You'll spend a long time writing in obscurity.

There is usually a time in life when one wakes up wondering where life is leading, the future still a rushing brace of questions and ambition and opportunity. lately for Matthew, waking up feels like one thousand rhetorical questions asked without urgency, in sleepy disbelief. The one currently wedged into the head like something parasitic with spiny little fins or teeth to anchor in with is this: Am I living in a Goddam Steely Dan song?

I came to Canada as a teenager with no money, no contacts, and no knowledge of English.

Live your life as if all your dreams have come true, and then challenge your relaity to catch up.

a warning to young entrepreneurs: take money from a venture capitalist, and you'll end up working for some smug, sarcastic, know-it-all prick like this guy, who will constantly tell you that you're not working hard enough while he spends his days getting into arguments on Twitter.

Embrace the work opportunity you have today. It may be the stepping-stone you need on your way to success.

If failure is not a possibility then winning is not so sweet.

Have fun in everything you do. Challenge yourself to bigger and better things.

So part of the issue is—do you want to do something great—in any area? If you are content with mediocrity in your life, then you will try to protect yourself from any failure. Just recognize the trade-off.