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Ambition Quotes

Browse 3325 quotes about Ambition.

Ambition Quotes

“Vietnam was a lie but at least there was a political agenda. It was the domino theory. Iraq is about nothing but George Bush's ego laced with imperialist ambitions. And it was helped by your government.”

Government Political Lying Theory Ego Ambition Iraq Agendas Vietnam Political Agendas

Author:Donald Sutherland

“A government by the passions of the multitude, or, no less correctly, according to the vices, and ambitions of their leaders is a democracy.”

Government Passion Leader Democracy Ambition Vices Multitudes

Book:Works of Fisher Ames

Source: Works of Fisher Ames

“I would like to have insights into things like government, all those big ideas that you brought up that I simply don't have ideas about. I would like to be able to since so many people discuss them, but I don't want to work at them. I don't think my ambition is that strong in that direction.”

People Thinking Want Ideas Bigs Government Able Strong Ambition Insight My Ambition Big Ideas

Author:Jasper Johns

“Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of Government. Instead, therefore, of exclaiming against the ambition of kings, the exclamation should be directed against the principle of such governments; and instead of seeking to reform the individual, the wisdom of a nation should apply itself to reform the system.”

Men Should Government Individual Nations Enemy Principles Kings Ambition Seeking Mediums Reform Exclamation Systems Of Government

Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution

Source: Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution

“In all ages of the world, priests have been enemies to liberty; and it is certain, that this steady conduct of theirs must have been founded on fixed reasons of interest and ambition. Liberty of thinking, and of expressing our thoughts, is always fatal to priestly power, and to those pious frauds, on which it is commonly founded; and, by an infallible connexion, which prevails among all kinds of liberty, this privilege can never be enjoyed, at least has never yet been enjoyed, but in a free government.”

Source: Essays Moral, Political, Literary: Revision of Great Book

“A democratic constitution, not supported by democratic institutions in detail, but confined to the central government, not only is not political freedom, but often creates a spirit precisely the reverse, carrying down to the lowest grade in society the desire and ambition of political domination.”

Source: Principles of political economy with some of their applications to social philosophy

“Republicans are systematically and deliberately trying to stop millions of American citizens from voting. What part of democracy are they afraid of? I call on Republicans at all levels of government, with all manner of ambition, to stop fear mongering about a phantom epidemic of election fraud. I'm calling for universal, automatic voter registration, every citizen in every state in the union.”

“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

“There be three sorts of government--monarchical, aristocratical, democratical; and they are apt to fall three several ways into ruin--the first, by tyranny; the second, by ambition; the last, by tumults. A commonwealth grounded upon any one of these is not of long continuance; but, wisely mingled, each guards the other and makes that government exact.”

Way Firsts Long Government Lasts Fall Three Ambition Tyranny Ruins Grounded Commonwealth Tumult Continuance

Book:Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles

Source: Enchiridion Institutions, Essays and Maxims, political, moral & divine. Divided into four centuries. By Francis Quarles

“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.”

Source: Speeches, Lectures, and Letters

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.”

“Ambition is one of the ungovernable passions of the human heart. The love of power is insatiable and uncontrollable.”

Humans Heart Government Passion Politics Ambition Human Heart Insatiable Uncontrollable

Author:John Adams

“A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal.”

Source: The Works of John Adams Vol. 4: Novanglus, Thoughts on Government, Defence of the Constitution I

“The United States is probably the most [socially] mobile society in the history of the world. The virtues that are most valuable in it are diligence, discipline, ambition, and a willingness to take risks. Education and credentials are most important in government; elsewhere most skills are learned on the job.”

World Important States Government Jobs United United States Virtue Risk Discipline Skills Ambition Valuable Willingness Elsewhere World History Mobile Diligence Credentials

Author:George Gilder

“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.”

Government Liberty Virtue Design Fit Ambition Tools Dependence Begets My Ambition Germs American Government Vice And Virtue Subservience

Book:Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts

Source: Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts

“The International Criminal Court, like most international institutions, is a wonderful idea. A noble idea. All it needs to work is planetary government, worldwide democracy and the triumph of reason over tribal loyalties, political doctrines and individual ambition. In other words, it requires that we all live in the world described by the "Star Trek" television shows.”

“I have great ambitions for when I get out of government. I will watch a broader range of stuff.”

Government Stuff Watches Ambition Range Great Ambition

Author:Susan Rice

“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.”

“From the union of power and money, from the union of power and secrecy, from the union of government and science, from the union of government and art, from the union of science and money, from the union of ambition and ignorance, from the union of genius and war, from the union of outer space and inner vacuity, the Mad Farmer walks quietly away.”

Art War Government Space Walks Ignorance Genius Ambition Mad Unions Farmers Secrecy Outer Space Vacuity

Book:The Mad Farmer Poems

Source: The Mad Farmer Poems

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”

Source: The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations

“There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest.”

May Government Spirit Choices Passion Interest Mankind Honest Human Nature Ambition Errors Worthy Motive Prevailing

Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton

Source: The Works of Alexander Hamilton

“Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction, and of anarchy.”

Source: The Essential Federalist: A New Reading of the Federalist Papers

“Each government accuses the other of perfidy, intrigue and ambition, as a means of heating the imagination of their respective nations, and incensing them to hostilities. Man is not the enemy of man, but through the medium of a false system of government.”

Men Mean Government Nations Imagination Liberty Enemy Ambition Mediums Intrigue Hostility Heating Systems Of Government Perfidy

Author:Thomas Paine

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“I confess I am at a loss to discover what temptation the persons entrusted with the administration of the general government could ever feel to divest the States of the authorities of that description. The regulation of the mere domestic police of a State appears to me to hold out slender allurements to ambition.”

Feels Persons States Government Loss Authority Ambition Police Mere Temptation Administration Description Regulation Slender Federalism

Book:The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States

Source: The Federalist, on the new constitution, written in 1788, with an appendix, containing the letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the proclamation of neutrality of 1793, also the original articles of confederation and the constitution of the United States

“Power from any source tends to create an appetite for additional power. It was almost inevitable that the super-rich would one day aspire to control not only their own wealth, but the wealth of the whole world. To achieve this, they were perfectly willing to feed the ambitions of the power-hungry political conspirators who were committed to the overthrow of all existing governments and the establishment of a central worldwide dictatorship.”

“From the earliest ages of history to the present day there never have been thirteen millions of people associated in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad... It is from within, among yourselves - from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power.”