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Ambition Quotes

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Ambition Quotes

“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.”

MenShouldGovernmentIndividualNationsEnemyPrinciplesKingsAmbitionSeekingMediumsReformExclamationSystems Of Government
Book:Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution
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“Young women with ambitions should be very crafty and cautious, lest mayhap they be caught in the soft, silken mesh of a happy marriage, and go down to oblivion, dead to the world.”

WorldShouldYoungAmbitionCaughtYoung WomenOblivionCautiousHappy MarriageCraftyMesh
Book:Selected writings of Elbert Hubbard: his mintage of wisdom, coined from a life of love, laughter and work
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“I think continually of those who were truly great . Who, from the womb, remembered the soul 's history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns , Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition Was that their lips, still touched with fire , Should tell of the spirit clothed from head to foot in song .”

ThinkingShouldStillsSoulLightSpiritSongHoursSunFireFeetAmbitionSingingLipsLovelyEndlessRememberedTouchedWombCorridors
Book:Selected Poems of Stephen Spender
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“How highly should we honor the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greater danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honorable ambition of their kings?”

ShouldFightingGreaterSecurityDangerKingsHonorAmbitionSakeCeaseHonorableGreeceBarbariansMacedonia
Book:Polybius: the histories
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“What I want to argue for is not that we should give up on our ideas of success, but that we should make sure that they are our own. We should focus in on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we're truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it's bad enough not getting what you want, but it's even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn't, in fact, what you wanted all along.”

WantGivingShouldIdeasEndsEnoughFactsWantedFocusJourneyGiving UpAmbitionWhat You WantArguingAuthorshipGetting What You Want
Author:Alain de Botton
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“Christianity persecuted, tortured, and burned. Like a hound it tracked the very scent of heresy. It kindled wars, and nursed furious hatreds and ambitions. It sanctified, quite like Mohammedism, extermination and tyranny. All this would have been impossible if, like Buddhism, it had looked only for peace and the liberation of souls. It looked beyond; it dreamt of infinite blisses and crowns it should be crowned with before an electrified universe and an applauding God... Buddhism had tried to quiet a sick world with anesthetics; Christianity sought to purge it with fire.”

IfsWorldShouldHas BeensWarSoulReligionUniverseChristianityFireImpossibleBuddhismMoralityQuietAmbitionHatredSickInfiniteTyrannyLiberationBlissCrownsBurnedScentHeresyFuriousPersecutedHoundsExterminationAnestheticsSick World
Author:George Santayana
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“Everything is 'colossalized' - events, fortunes, accidents, climate, conversation, ambitions - everything is in the extreme ... They can't even have a tram run off a line, which in England or France might kill one or two people, without its making a holocaust of half a street full. ... The thing which surprises me is they should still employ animals of normal size; one would expect to see elephants and mammoths drawing the hansoms and carts!”

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Author:Elinor Glyn
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“Certainly it was ordained as a scourge upon the pride of human wisdom, that the wisest of us all, should thus outwit ourselves, and eternally forego our purposes in the intemperate act of pursuing them.”

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Book:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. And A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy ... With Life of the Author by Sir Walter Scott, Portrait, and Outline Wood Engravings After Thomas Stothard
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“If you're willing to put in the work, the idea is that you should be able to raise a family and own a home, not go bankrupt because you got sick, 'cause you've got some health insurance that helps you deal with those difficult times; that you can send your kids to college; that you can put some money away for retirement. That's all most people want. Folks don't have unrealistic ambitions. They do believe that if they work hard, they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American dream.”

PeopleIfsWantShouldBelieveIdeasHardHelpingHomeDreamKidsAbleCausesDifficultDealsAchieveCollegeWillingHard WorkAmbitionSickRaisesFolksRetirementAmerican DreamDifficult Times
Author:Barack Obama
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“Maybe you should think about the choices in your life, how someone can come and spit some kind of game to you and make you doubt every single thing that is your life, your relationship, your appearance, your job, your ambitions, your marriage, and how those thoughts can lead to choices and behavior that you never thought that you were capable of.”

ThinkingShouldKindJobsChoicesGamesDoubtBehaviorAmbitionCapableAppearanceOur RelationshipSpit
Author:Jurnee Smollett
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“I confess . . . that I am not myself very much concerned with the question of influence, or with those publicists who have impressed their names upon the public by catching the morning tide and rowing very vast in the direction in which the current was flowing; but rather that there should always be a few writers preoccupied in penetrating to the core of the matter, in trying to arrive at the truth and to set it forth, without too much hope, without ambition to alter the immediate course of affairs, and without being downcast or defeated when nothing appears to ensue.”

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Author:T. S. Eliot
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“A high character might be produced, I suppose, by continued prosperity, but it has very seldom been the case. Adversity, however it may appear to be our foe, is our true friend; and, after a little acquaintance with it, we receive it as a precious thing - the prophecy of a coming joy. It should be no ambition of ours to traverse a path without a thorn or stone.”

ShouldMayLittlesCharacterMightJoyCasesPathAmbitionStonesAdversityProsperityProphecyFoeAcquaintanceTrue FriendPrecious ThingsTraverse
Book:The Complete Works of C. H. Spurgeon, Volume 36: Sermons 2121-2181
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“Ambitions for self may be quite modest. . . . Ambitions for God, however, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. How can we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honour in the world? No. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honour, and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.”

IfsWorldShouldMayLittlesLongSelfClearKingsAmbitionGlorySpreadWorthySupremeKingdomsAcquireRighteousnessCherishHonourAmbitiousModestInappropriate
Author:John Stott
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“This may sound arrogant, but I believe that if we'd done teamship better, we'd still be there. Where we fell down was the inability to hold together. We should have learnt from the great football teams. The players may not like each other. They have egos, they have their own ambitions, they have different personalities, but they are still bloody good teams.”

IfsShouldBelieveMayStillsDifferentDoneTogetherI BelieveSoundPlayerTeamFootballPersonalityEgoAmbitionShould HaveArrogantBloodyInabilityFootball TeamGood TeamGreat Football
Author:Alastair Campbell
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“I do believe that India needs a lot more foreign direct investment than we've got, and we should have the ambition to move in the same league many other countries in our neighborhood are moving. We may not be able to reach where the Chinese are today, but there is no reason why we should not think big about the role of foreign direct investment, particularly in the areas relating to infrastructure, where our needs for investment are very large. We need new initiatives, management skills, and I do believe that direct foreign investment can play a very important role.”

ThinkingNeedsShouldBelieveMayImportantCountryReasonPlayBigsTodayAbleMovingRolesSkillsAmbitionAreasDirectShould HaveIndiaManagementInvestmentChineseReason WhyLeagueNeighborhoodNo ReasonInitiativeOther CountriesInfrastructureThink BigManagement Skills
Author:Manmohan Singh
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“To view space as, "Well, let's go to Mars now," or "Let's do this now," maybe we should rethink of space as our backyard and have a suite of launch vehicles that can enable any ambition a person has regarding space. It's the same way you can go to buy a car: I want to go offroading, I'll buy this model. I'm a city driver, that's this model. I want to use less fuel, well, that's this model. They're not selling you one car, you have options. So when I think of space, I think of having options.”

ThinkingWayWantShouldWellsPersonsUseSpaceViewsCitiesCarAmbitionModelsSellingFuelDriversVehicleMarsBackyards
Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson
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“I don't think we should just 'muddle through' and ignore the question of life's meaning. Or better, perhaps, I don't think it is a question that can be ignored once the business of asking about the worth and significance of what one is doing - one's work, one's pleasures, one's ambitions and so on - has got going. You can't at any point stop the urge to ask Tolstoy's questions, '... and then what?', 'What's the point of that?'.”

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Author:David E. Cooper
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“We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.”

PeopleWantInspirationalNeedsShouldTryingHardRealizingWorkPovertyClearNiceCarHard WorkAmbitionClothesAccomplishLuxuryFancyApartmentSteersFull PotentialLife StrugglePersonal LeadershipNice ClothesFancy Cars
Author:Barack Obama
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