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Ambition Quotes

Browse 3325 quotes about Ambition.

Ambition Quotes

“One inconvenience... may attend bold and arduous attempts: frequent failure may discourage. This evil, however, is not more pernicious than the slow proficiency which is the natural consequence of too easy tasks.”

May Evil Easy Natural Ambition Consequence Tasks Discouraging Inconvenience Pernicious Proficiency Natural Consequences Easy Tasks

Book:The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone

Source: The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone

“In particular, it is absurd to hope to banish envy of other people's possessions or fortunes, if only because the spirit of envy can lead to emulation and ambition and have positive consequences.”

People Ifs Spirit Particular Ambition Consequence Fortune Possession Envy Absurd Emulation

Book:God is Not Great

Source: God is Not Great

“The ultimate consequences of the individualist spirit in economic life are those which you yourselves, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children, see and deplore: Free competition has destroyed itself; economic dictatorship has supplanted the free market; unbridled ambition for power has likewise succeeded greed for gain; all economic life has become tragically hard, inexorable, and cruel.”

Source: On reconstructing the social order: (Quadragesimo anno)

“Hereditary right should be kept sacred, not from any inalienable right in a particular family, but to avoid the consequences that usually attend the ambition of competitors.”

Should Government Particular Ambition Consequence Sacred Competitors Hereditary

Author:Jonathan Swift

“Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits when he is encouraged and who cries when he is defeated. Such a boy will be fired by ambition; he will be stung by reproach, and animated by preference; never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy.”

Giving Boys Cry Ambition Consequence Give Me Profit Defeated Preference Idleness Animated Reproach Emulation

Book:Quinctilian's Institutes of Eloquence: Or, The Art of Speaking in Public, in Every Character and Capacity

Source: Quinctilian's Institutes of Eloquence: Or, The Art of Speaking in Public, in Every Character and Capacity

“Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued.”

Self Use Talent Example Discipline Ambition Consequence Objectives Pity Neglect Warning Pursued Self Pity

Author:Jim Rohn

“I've seen the consequences of what can happen when you're unprepared for a fight, or not as prepared as your opponent.I can't let anything like that happen to me, I've got too many goals, too much ambition in the sport. We're looking to fight for a world title this year.”

World Years I Can Happens Fighting Sports Goal Too Much Ambition Consequence Prepared Titles Opponents Unprepared

Author:Chris Eubank, Jr.

“The growth of violent extremism is partly a consequence of how the developed world has become complacent and defensive about its own greatness and ambition.”

World Growth Greatness Ambition Consequence Violent Extremism Complacent

Author:Garry Kasparov

“Living men are bound by time... Thus, their lives have an urgency. This gives them ambition. Makes them choose those things that are most important, cling more tightly to that which they hold dear. Their lives have seasons, and rites of passage, and consequences. And ultimately, an end. But what of a life with no urgency? What then of ambition? What then of love?”

Men Love Giving Important Ends Age Ambition Consequence Seasons Bounds Dear Passages Urgency Rite Rite Of Passage

Author:Seth Grahame-Smith

“We have made it our overriding ambition to escape work, and as a consequence have debased work until it is only fit to escape from. We have debased the products of work and have been, in turn, debased by them. (pg. 43, "The Unsettling of America")”

Has Beens Made America Turns Products Fit Ambition Consequence Made It

Author:Wendell Berry

“Nature has a way sometimes of reminding Man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up terrible offspring's of our pride and carelessness to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an earthquake, or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of Man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now, Godzilla - that strangely innocent and tragic monster - has gone to earth. Whether he returns or not, or is never again seen by human eyes, the things he has taught us remain...”