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Ambition Quotes

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Ambition Quotes

“We are in the position of the man who has only two ambitions in life. One is to invent the universal solvent which will dissolve any solid substance, and the second is to invent the universal container which will hold any liquid. Whatever this inventor does, he will be frustrated.”

MenDoeTwoPositionHe ManAmbitionUniversalSubstanceFrustratedInventorLiquidContainersLife Ambition
Book:The human use of human beings: cybernetics and society
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“For more than two generations, my family had never achieved their ambitions. Their talents were unappreciated and unused. They deserved better. They hadn't done anything wrong; they just had some bad breaks. Why was I succeeding? Why was I living my dreams? I wasn't more deserving than they were. I wasn't smarter or a better person. What was the difference between us that allowed me to attain so much in a short time? America. America was the difference. I had been born a citizen of the greatest nation in all of human history.”

HumansPersonsTwoDoneDreamAmericaNationsBornDifferencesBreakGenerationsTalentCitizensSucceedAmbitionMy FamilySmarterHuman HistoryDeservingBetter PersonShort Time
Book:An American Son: A Memoir
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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!”

PeopleShouldStillsTwoMightRunningLinesAnimalHalfUnited StatesStreetsEventsConversationNormalAmbitionEnglandFortuneSurpriseClimateSizeExtremesAccidentsDrawingFranceHolocaustElephantsExaggerationCartsSurprise MeTrams
Author:Elinor Glyn
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“Man is in pursuit of two goals: he is looking for happinesse and, being by essence empty ("étant vide par essence", Fr.), he is trying to fill (or take up, - "remplir", Fr.) his life; the latter reason play a more considerable role than we ordinarily think. What we take for vainglory, ambition, love of power and riches (or wealth), is often, indeed, a need to mask this emptiness, a need to let one's hair down (or to live it up), to put oneself on a false scent or trail. (de se donner le change", Fr.)”

ThinkingMenNeedsTryingTwoReasonPlayGoalWealthRolesHairAmbitionEmptyEssenceOneselfRichesPursuitEmptinessLatterMaskScentTrailsLive It Up
Author:African Spir
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“Twenty-two years ago Judge [then-Senator Stephen] Douglas and I first became acquainted. We were both young then; he a trifle younger than I. Even then, we were both ambitious; I, perhaps, quite as much so as he. With me, the race of ambition has been a failure--a flat failure; with him it has been one of splendid success.”

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Author:Abraham Lincoln
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“I want to see all the countries in the world and learn all the languages. I want to have thousands of friends and I want all my friends to be different. I want to play six instruments. I want to be the best in the world at two things. I want to be a great athlete and I want to be a great surgeon. I need to practice very hard every day. I need to sleep as little as possible. I need to read at least one major book every week. And I need to remember that my seventy years are going to go by too quickly.”

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Author:Diana Nyad
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“There are, indeed, two forms of discontent: one laborious, the other indolent and complaining. We respect the man of laborious desire, but let us not suppose that his restlessness is peace, or his ambition meekness. It is because of the special connection of meekness with contentment that it is promised that the meek shall 'inherit the earth.' Neither covetous men, nor the grave, can inherit anything; they can but consume. Only contentment can possess.”

MenTwoEarthFormDesireSpecialHe ManAmbitionConnectionsComplainingGravesContentmentDiscontentRestlessnessMeekMeekness
Book:Modern Painters: pt. 6. Of leaf beauty. pt. 7. Of Cloud beauty. pt. 8-9. Of ideas of relation
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“To all my gentle readers who have treated me with love for over 30 years, I must say farewell. It has always been my ambition to die in harness with my head face down on a keyboard and my nose caught between two of the keys, but that's not the way it worked out. I have had a long and happy life and I have no complaints about the ending, thereof, and so farewell - farewell.”

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Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Freedom is necessary for two reasons. It's necessary for the individual, because the individual, no matter how good the society is, every individual has hopes, fears, ambitions, creative urges, that transcend the purposes of his society. Therefore we have a long history of freedom, where people try to extricate themselves from tyranny for the sake of art, for the sake of science, for the sake of religion, for the sake of the conscience of the individual - this freedom is necessary for the individual.”

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Author:Reinhold Niebuhr
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“They have a policy in China for their big companies called "Go abroad." It's a rational thing for both the company and the country to say, "We want big, successful companies." Particularly in areas where they need it: agriculture, energy, technology. I think banking, too. One or two have bought a trading house. Some have already begun expanding around the world. Of course they're going to have those ambitions. Why wouldn't they? They're just doing it methodically. It's a logical strategy and, well-executed, they will succeed.”

ThinkingWorldWantNeedsWellsTwoCountryBigsCoursesHouseEnergyCompanyTechnologySuccessfulPolicySucceedAmbitionAreasStrategyChinaRationalAround The WorldLogicalAgricultureTradingBankingExpandingBig CompaniesSuccessful Company
Author:Jamie Dimon
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“I guess part of my ambivalence about pursuing music as well as acting is that acting is already one of the most difficult careers to create for yourself, I must be insane to embark on creating two careers in two of the most difficult fields. But I have really different ambitions with music; I just want to stay in love with music. I want it to continue to be a means of expression for me that feels like it's mine, and something that feels community-based.”

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Author:Lola Kirke
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“I had two competing ambitions when I was a child: I wanted to be a Scientist and Discover Great Things, but I also wanted to be an Author and Write Great Things. I've always tried to combine the analytical with the creative, to some extent or another, because I find it hard to do one without the other. I've worked as a tech journalist, social media consultant, and now am self-publishing fiction.”

WritingChildrenTwoSelfHardWantedSocialFictionCreativeMediaAmbitionScientistSocial MediaGreat ThingsJournalistPublishingCompetingConsultants
Author:Suw Charman-Anderson
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“The loved object is simply one that has shared an experience at the same moment of time, narcissistically; and the desire to be near the beloved object is at first not due to the idea of possessing it, but simply to let the two experiences compare themselves, like reflections in different mirrors. All this may precede the first look, kiss, or touch; precede ambition, pride, or envy; precede the first declarations which mark the turning point—for from here love degenerates into habit, possession, and back to loneliness.”

FirstsLooksMayTwoIdeasDifferentMomentsDesireLonelinessObjectsPrideHabitKissingAmbitionReflectionMarkMirrorsPossessionDuesEnvyCompareBelovedDeclarationPossessingTurning PointsDegenerates
Book:The Alexandria Quartet: Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive, Clea
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“The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it put your whole soul into it-every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have.”

InspirationalWellsTwoSoulWholeHappinessSuccessLyingEnergyBitsInterestCan DoNaturalSimpleAbilityEffortPrinciplesAmbitionFindingsHappyBeing HappyPursuit Of HappinessTrue HappinessFinding HappinessFeeling HappyHappiness Is A ChoiceNatural AbilityGive 100 PercentRoad To HappinessMaximum Effort
Author:John D. Rockefeller III
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“O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hath cast out of the world and despised. Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet!”

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Book:The History of the World: In Five Books. Viz. Treating of the Beginning and First Ages of Same from the Creation Unto Abraham. Of the Birth of Abraham to the Destruction of Jerusalem to the Time of Philip of Macedon. From the Reign of Philip of Macedon to the Establishing of that Kingdom in the Race of Antigonus. From Settled Rule of Alexander's Successors in the East Until the Romans (prevailing Over All) Made Conquest of Asia and Macedon
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“I had always drawn, every day as long as I had held a pencil, and just assumed everyone else had too…Art had saved me and helped me fit in…Art was always my saving grace…Comedy didn’t come until much later for me. I’ve always tried to combine the two things, art and comedy, and couldn’t make a choice between the two. It was always my ambition to make comedy with an art-school slant, and art that could be funny instead of po-faced.”

LongArtTwoSchoolChoicesComedyGraceFitAmbitionSavedSavingTwo ThingsPencilsMy AmbitionArt SchoolSaving Grace
Author:Noel Fielding
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