Quotes About Ambition

There's no one here in America swimming the Pacific Ocean - or the Atlantic, or the Caribbean - to leave this place. The reason why is because of the freedom. Freedom for a man to mark out his own destiny. It's not, 'Hey, you have so much.'

I think I'm going to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida.

Back in my mind, I never, ever wanted to give up swimming; it was something that I would carry on with.

I can't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't swimming. It is what I want to do now; it is what I want to do in the foreseeable future, and that is what I'm focusing on.

I want to run a marathon in the immediate future. In the future future, I want to do ironmans. I cycle long distances. The only thing I have to work on is the swimming. I'm a good swimmer, but I've never done long distances like that.

The Olympics was a goal, and definitely, swimming in college was a goal.

I was always a very competitive little kid. I did swimming very competitively, downhill skiing very competitively. Everything was competition.

I grew up watching swimming and amazing athletes in Australia and grew up wanting to do the same.

It feels like I'm in a swimming pool, and I am constantly trying to stay above water. Sometimes I feel like I'm slipping, and you try to come up for air, and that's how it is when looking for the next role.

I want to model and I want to do whatever it takes to be a 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit model.

In my early 20s I was so miserable doing construction, I wanted something that paid money. I liked nice stuff. I liked cars and architecture, and things that cost money. I wanted to not swing a hammer, and make money... and not do stuff that was dirty. I attempted to get into comedy. I started to do stand-up, but I wasn't very good at it.

I think somewhere in the back of my mind I've always wanted to make a whole swing album.

Not every pitch I swing at is going over the fence, but you're going to miss every shot you don't take.

I can't imagine that I would be the person I am today if, over the last seven years, I had been married to somebody who didn't feel 100 percent comfortable with my drive, my ambition, my interest in thinking big and swinging for the fences.

Some people get into this business and they're so afraid to lose anything. They try to protect their position like clinging to a beachhead. These actors end up making really safe choices. I never wanted to go that route. If I go down, I'm going down swinging.

I was going to live on my salary or go down swinging.

Being a writer, writing for a living, is one long persistence game. Everyone wants you to quit. Quite often, you want to quit. You get kicked down. You come up swinging. You keep going. Either you are committed to it, or you aren't.

I think when you take the big swings - and I've done plenty of big swings that I was told were never going to work - those are always the things that break through.

I was this little blond girl with a guitar case bigger than me - it was pink and sparkly at the time. But I always took myself seriously, and I think that people took that seriously. I would tell them about my goal list, and they listened. I was like, 'I want to be the one that swings the pendulum.'

I feel every day that everything I create - everything I do - I want it to be a risk. I think when you take the big swings - and I've done plenty of big swings that I was told were never going to work - those are always the things that break through.

People are so busy dreaming the American Dream, fantasizing about what they could be or have a right to be, that they're all asleep at the switch. Consequently we are living in the Age of Human Error.

When I meet a good actor, I would like to be a director. When I meet a good director, I would like to be an actor. When there is a good script, I would like to be both a director and an actor. The switch is very natural, not intentional.

I get dissatisfied really easily, and I have to constantly keep moving; I have to constantly keep doing things. I find it very hard to switch off.

I'm constantly trying to become the best. That's kind of how I'm driven. Sometimes I'm not. I kind of focus on when I'm not than when I am. That's probably something I need to switch.