Quotes About Ambition

Shaped by a childhood of uncertainty, he aspired to be self-sufficient in business

Another explanation is that while he was persistent, he was also extremely slow; as at school, some people thought him a rather dim-witted dolt who would never rise in the world, and he had to prove himself to naysayers.

One day the king asked West whether Washington would be head of the army or head of state when the war ended. When West replied that Washington's sole ambition was to return to his estate, the thunderstruck king declared, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.

Rockefeller also derived a glandular pleasure from work and never found it cheerless drudgery.

Archbold scandal pushed him toward his proper career: that of a full-time philanthropist.

Mr. Rockefeller may have made himself the richest man in the world, but he has paid.

Rockefeller knew that he was overpaying but couldn't resist a deal that would certify his position as the world's largest oil refiner at age thirty-one.

Ambition was reckless if inspired by purely selfish motives but laudable if guided by great principles

The idea was not to compete, at least not too openly.

Ida Alice seemed determined to run through Flagler's money, gathering an expensive wardrobe and trying to buy her way into New York high society.

It is the food of my hopes, the object of my wishes, the only enjoyment of my life - Alexander Hamilton

John D. Rockefeller had an unfailing knack for knowing who would help or hinder him in his career, an instinct only sharpened by time.

He made them all wealthy beyond their dreams.

One could now see in his face the subdued melancholy of a man who had sacrificed too much for work.

With an unaccustomed rhetorical flourish, he affirmed that in the near future "the dividing line will not be Mason & Dixons but between patriotism, & intelligence on the one side & superstition, ambition & ignorance on the other.

The Clarks were the first of many business partners to underrate the audacity of the quietly calculating Rockefeller, who bided his time as he figured out how to get rid of them.

61 Pierpont's fortune didn't approach those of the great industrialists—Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, or Harriman—and he didn't quite edge out Jay Gould.

To the young American Ã¢â'¬Â¦ the paths to fortune are innumerable and all open;

Rockefeller never passed up a chance to exploit a legitimate advantage against his beleaguered rivals.

Potts aspired to be Rockefeller's equal.

From the outset, the young Hamilton had phenomenal stamina for sustained work: ambitious, orphaned boys do not enjoy the option of idleness.

He was a slow learner but patient and persistent and, like J. P. Morgan and Jay Gould, exhibited a terrific head for math.

Hamilton did not know it, but he just wrote himself out of poverty.

I want to see Hamilton.