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Ambition Quotes

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Ambition Quotes

“Ambition is frequently the only refuge which life has left to the denied or mortified affections. We chide at the grasping eye, the daring wing, the soul that seems to thirst for sovereignty only, and know not that the flight of this ambitious bird has been from a bosom or home that is filled with ashes.”

KnowsHas BeensSoulHomeSeemsEyeLeftAmbitionBirdFilledWingsAffectionFlightDeniedDaringAmbitiousAshesRefugeThirstSovereigntyBosomsGrasping
Book:Egeria: Or Voices of Thought and Counsel, for the Woods and Wayside
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“Man little knows what calamities are beyond his patience to bear till he tries them; as in ascending the heights of ambition, which look bright from below, every step we rise shows us some new and gloomy prospect of hidden disappointment; so in our descent from the summits of pleasure, though the vale of misery below may appear, at first, dark and gloomy, yet the busy mind, still attentive to its own amusement, finds, as we descend, something to flatter and to please. Still as we approach, the darkest objects appear to brighten, and the mortal eye becomes adapted to its gloomy situation.”

KnowsMenTryingMindFirstsLooksMayLittlesStillsShowsEyeDarkPleasureSituationStepsObjectsBearsPleaseAmbitionApproachExperienceMiseryBusyDisappointmentMortalsHeightAmusementSummitCalamityEvery StepAdaptedGloomyDescentAscending
Book:The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Poetical works. Dramas. The vicar of Wakefield
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“The source of each accordant strain Lies deeper than the Poet's brain. First from the people's heart must spring The passions which he learns to sing; They are the wind, the harp is he, To voice their fitful melody,-- The language of their varying fate, Their pride, grief, love, ambition, hate,-- The talisman which holds inwrought The touchstone of the listener's thought; That penetrates each vain disguise, And brings his secret to his eyes.”

PeopleFirstsHeartEyeLyingHatePassionLanguageVoiceGriefSecretBrainFatePoetWindSourcePrideAmbitionSpringDeeperVainHis EyesMelodyDisguiseListenersStrainPenetrateHarpsTouchstonesTalismans
Book:The Poems
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“Society,--the only field where the sexes have ever met on terms of equality, the arena where character is formed and studied, the cradle and the realm of public opinion, the crucible of ideas, the world's university, at once a school and a theater, the spur and the crown of ambition, the tribunal which unmasks pretension and stamps real merit, the power that gives government leave to be, and outruns the lazy Church in fixing the moral sense of the eye.”

WorldGivingIdeasRealCharacterGovernmentEyeSchoolSexTermChurchMoralOpinionSocietyFieldsMetsAmbitionTheaterUniversityMeritRealmsLazyCrownsStampsArenaPublic OpinionCradleFixingSpursPretensionCrucibleOutrunTribunals
Book:Speeches, Lectures, and Letters
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“An entrepreneur is someone who, almost artistically, designs a living entity which embodies the values, beliefs, and ambitions of the creator. It's impossible for a larger entity to swallow a smaller one without completely reshaping it. When this process begins, a wild visionary - the entrepreneur type - is the most toxic, indigestible actor imaginable. And this is why I roll my eyes when a new acquisition is announced: Because I don't see it as a triumphant graduation but a sacrifice to an industry that is afraid to dream big.”

DreamBigsEyeValuesActorsBeliefProcessImpossibleSacrificeDesignTypeIndustryAmbitionEntrepreneurCreatorToxicEntityVisionariesAcquisitionTriumphant
Author:Jake Lodwick
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“Birds sing in vain to the ear, flowers bloom in vain to the eye, of mortified vanity and galled ambition. He who would know repose in retirement must carry into retirement his destiny, integral and serene, as the Caesars transported the statue of Fortune into the chamber they chose for their sleep.”

KnowsEyeSleepDestinyFlowerSolitudeAmbitionBirdEarsFortuneVanityVainRetirementStatuesChamberReposeSereneBlooming Flower
Author:Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
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“I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.”

KnowsWantFeelsHeartMadeStillsSoulCountryEyeSpiritualSpeakWealthMoralAmbitionEmptyCaughtIllnessAcquireDecayCaught UpRuthlessVacuumsPrestigeDimesAmerican SocietyTumorsMoral Decay
Author:Lee Atwater
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“Public people are definitely captives. It wasn't really my ambition, but that's what happened. If I could find another word that would be more precise, I'd tell that I'm captive of my need for acknowledgement. People ask me, "Isn't it terrible to be famous?" Not for me! I sort of need it. To be honest, I always enjoyed it. It's as if it gave me some structure. It's as if I needed someone else's eyes to look at myself.”

PeopleEyeHonestTerribleAmbitionBeing HonestAsk MeMy AmbitionAcknowledgement
Author:Carla Bruni
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“But women are very differently situated with respect to eachother - for they are all rivals (...) Is it then surprising that when the sole ambition of woman centres in beauty, and interest gives vanity additional force, perpetual rivalships should ensue? They are all running the same race, and would rise above the virtue of morals, if they did not view each other with a suspicious and even envious eye.”

IfsGivingShouldEyeRunningForceInterestViewsRaceMoralVirtueAmbitionVanitySurprisingPerpetualSoleCentreRivalsSuspiciousRise AboveEnvious
Author:Mary Wollstonecraft
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“I hope you find true meaning, contentment, and passion in your life. I hope you navigate the difficult times and come out with greater strength and resolve. I hope you find whatever balance you seek with your eyes wide open. And I hope that you - yes, you - have the ambition to lean in to your career and run the world. Because the world needs you to change it.”

WorldNeedsEyeRunningPassionDifficultCareersGreaterBalanceAmbitionWideContentmentResolveDifficult TimesNeed YouNavigateTrue MeaningEyes Wide Open
Author:Sheryl Sandberg
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“It is hope in this wider sense which enabled my father to build, from scratch, one of India's largest modern enterprises. His was an undertaking powered by hard work, initiative, self-belief but, above all else, the capacity, as he would often say, "to dream with your eyes wide open".”

SelfHardDreamEyeFatherBeliefGoalModernHard WorkAmbitionCommitmentCapacityIndiaWideEnterpriseInitiativeScratchesUndertakingsBeliveBelief In SelfEyes Wide Open
Author:Anil Ambani
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“All political power, all power as such, is stupid. Don't rush after it, don't be ambitious, because all ambition collects dust and only dust. If you are not disillusioned by dust, you will not be able to know what truth is. A man obsessed with ambition is not capable of knowing truth at all. Eyes full of ambition never see what is; they only see what they want to see. The ambitious mind is the wrong mind; the non-ambitious mind is the right mind.”

IfsKnowsMenWantMindEyeAblePoliticalKnowingStupidTruth IsAmbitionCapableDustObsessedAmbitiousPolitical PowerDisillusioned
Author:Rajneesh
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“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...”

MenWayHumansSometimesEyeEarthFacesGoneDangerousTaughtPrideReturnTerribleAmbitionConsequenceMonstersInnocentTragicRecklessEarthquakesOffspringRemindingTaught UsTornadoesHuman EyesGodzilla
Author:Raymond Burr
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“And if we now cast our eyes over the nations of the earth, we shall find that, instead of possessing the pure religion of the Gospel, they may be divided either into infidels, who deny the truth; or politicians who make religion a stalking horse for their ambition; or professors, who walk in the trammels of orthodoxy, and are more attentive to traditions and ordinances of men than to the oracles of truth.”

IfsMenMayEyeEarthNationsWalksPoliticianPureAmbitionTraditionHorseCastsDenyDividedProfessorsOrthodoxyStalkingPossessingInfidelOrdinancesOracles
Author:Samuel Adams
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“I think all writers are always collecting characters as we go along. Not just characters of course, we're collecting EVERYTHING. Bits and pieces of story. An interesting dynamic between people. A theme. A great character back story. A cool occupation. The look of someone's eyes. A burning ambition. Hundreds of thousands of bits of flotsam and jetsam that we stick in the back of our minds like the shelves full of buttons and ribbons and fabrics and threads and beads in a costumer's shop.”

PeopleThinkingMindLooksCharacterStoriesEyeCoursesBitsInterestingPiecesCreationAmbitionSticksBurningThemeShopsOccupationThreadButtonsFabricShelvesCollectingRibbonsBeadsGreat CharacterBits And PiecesFlotsam
Author:Alexandra Sokoloff
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“Gary Shteyngart has written a memoir for the ages. I spat laughter on the first page and closed the last with wet eyes. Un-put-down-able in the day and a half I spent reading it, Little Failure is a window into immigrant agony and ambition, Jewish angst, and anybody's desperate need for a tribe. Readers who've fallen for Shteyngart's antics on the page will relish the trademark humor. But here it's laden and leavened with a deep, consequential, psychological journey. Brave and unflinching, Little Failure is his best book to date”

NeedsFirstsLittlesBookEyeAgeAbleLastsReadingHalfWrittenJourneyReaderAmbitionPagesLaughterWindowBraveMemoirPsychologicalFallenDesperateImmigrantsWetAgonyTribesAngstRelishGaryTrademarksSpatsAnticsWet Eyes
Author:Mary Karr
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