Quotes About Ambition

William the Conqueror, it is said, began by eating a mouthful of English sand.

We strive for heights bit our natures betray us, Chamcha thought; clowns in search of crowns. The bitterness overcame him

When he resigned his boss thought he was asking for more money. 'No,' he said. 'I'm just going to try to be a full-time writer.' Oh, his boss said, you want a lot more money. 'No, really,' he said. 'This isn't a negotiation. I'm just giving you my thirty days' notice. Thirty-one days from now, I won't be coming in.' Hmm, his boss replied. I don't think we can give you as much money as that .

What Rushdie took away from reading Gunter Grass's The Tin Drum]: Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be ruthless. Argue with the world. And never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things--childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves--that go on slipping like sand, through our fingers.

In these our degenerate times, men bent on nothing but vainglory and personal gain – hollow, bombastic men for whom nothing is off-limits if it advances their petty cause – will claim to be great leaders

When you have things, then there is time to dream; when you don't, you fight.

Parents are impelled by the profit motive - nothing more, nothing less. For their attentions, they expected, from me, the immense dividend of greatness.

Dr Faustus sacrificed eternity in return for two dozen years of power; the writer agrees to the ruination of his life, and gains (but only if he's lucky) maybe not eternity, but posterity, at least.

When you have earned the high horizon it isn't easy to go back into your box, into a narrow island, an eternity of anticlimax.

Unfortunately life has a way of sidetracking one's greatest ambitions. Painters, would-be artists, end up whitewashing walls. Sculptors are forced to design toilets. Writers become critics or publicists. Archaeologists, like myself, can become gravediggers.

I'm like the sky at night. The universe has no interest in right and wrong. It doesn't care who lives or dies and who behaved well or badly. The universe is an explosion. It rushes outwards, pushing, growing, making room for itself. It's a never-ending conquest. You know what the motto of the universe is? Give me more. I want it all. That's my motto also. That's how i see things too.

Anything you want to be, you can be: You can be just what-all you want.

When you have things, then there is time to dream; when you don't, you fight.

Cuidado con el hombre de acción que por fin desea progresar por medio del pensamiento. Un poco de pensamiento es algo peligroso.

As a young man he had shared a room with a painter whose paintings had grown larger and larger as he tried to get the whole of life into his art.[...]The swollen events of the night of the crescent knives reminded Nadir Khan of his room-mate, because life had once again, perversely, refused to remain life-sized.

Just keep your foot on the gas until you run out of road.

Many people renounce the world because they can't find a satisfactory place in it, and almost any spiritual teaching can be used to justify a pathological lack of ambition. For someone who has not yet succeeded at anything and who probably fears failure, a doctrine that criticizes the search for worldly success can be very appealing. And devotion to a guru—a combination of love, gratitude, awe, and obedience—can facilitate an unhealthy return to childhood.

When I was much younger and still competing in gymnastics, I could rarely find inspiration outside of the sport.

I want to be one of the greatest athletes ever to live, not only in track and field, but in all of general sport.

I decided to create a sports club during the Soviet times. It was my dream.

Winning isn't everything, but striving to win is.

Playing baseball was my dream, and no amount of money could sway my opinion.

I look forward to another good year next year. It would be nice to win, too.

Well, if I hadn't have been an actor I would have gone on to play college sports.