Quotes About Ambition

Every poem I write falls short in some important way. But I go on trying to write the one that won't.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition," he wrote. "I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.

There is only one real sin, and that is to persuade oneself that the second-best is anything but the second-best

Some people are just like that, Abigail. If it's good for them, then it's good. If it's bad for them, then it's bad. They rearrange morality to suit their ambitions. Nat simply

you want something, you go and get it. If you don't want that thing, you let it go and stop brooding.

Always your first question to yourself should be, "What would I be doing now if it were really impossible for me to fall at – whatever it is: traveling, modeling, writing, farming?

Those who are still slaves to dreams, to the Will to Fail, are made uncomfortable by the sight of anyone who is breaking free.

Thirdly, the advice is not to dash out and impress others by posing, pretending or downright lying about one's successfulness. The only one to impress, at least at first, is yourself, and that only to the extent of making for yourself a congenial working-atmosphere. The recommendation, once more, is simply this: Act as if it were impossible to fail.

To guarantee success, act as if it were impossible to fail.

I did things I did not understand for reasons I could not begin to explain just to be in motion, to be trying to do something, change something in a world I wanted desperately to make over but could not imagine for myself.

You have only to want it,to believe it, and tonight when you close your eyes, you can begin your journey

It wasn't because Eva had not tried her best. She had nearly killed herself trying. But she had been like a gifted mathematician set to paint a picture.

And habits are hell's own substitute for good intentions. Habits are the ruin of ambition, of initiative, of imagination. They're the curse of marriage and the after-bane of death.

People need dreams, there's as much nourishment in 'em as food.

There is something I want to do. But it's something to work towards, not something that should be handed to me on a plate. What's the point of doing something if you know you've got someone to rescue you if you fail? I like to work hard at something and then to reap the rewards. I take pride in what I do. What's the point if I know my rich husband will bail me out if I mess up?

I don't know much about being a millionaire, but I'll bet I'd be darling at it.

I suppose all young men dream of making a fortune," she said. "But most of them come to be content to make a living.

My mother explained it for him once. "There is nothing there for anyone who has ambition and intelligence," she said.

The real killers in the business world aren't the ones who aim for the top, it's the ones who aim for two notches below the top.

Flying dreams mean that you're doing the right thing with your life.

I am not suggesting you shouldn't work hard, but I am suggesting that if you are defining your value by the chase—by your ambition, your work, and your achievement—then you are simply chasing after the wind, and ultimately, it is meaningless.

Cocaine is also the drug of success and ambition, a tonic to those for whom doubt and introspection serve no purpose. No accident that it replaced psychedelics in the Woodstock Generation's stash boxes as flower children turned into young professionals.

If experience was so important, we'd never have had anyone walk on the moon.