“It seems idle to rail at ambition merely because it is a boundless passion; or rather is not this circumstance an argument in its favor? If one would be employed or amused through life, should we not make choice of a passion that will keep one long in play?” IfsShouldLongPlaySeemsWould BeChoicesPassionCircumstancesAmbitionArgumentFavorsIdleEmployedBoundlessRailAmused Book:Essays on Men and Manners Source: Essays on Men and Manners
“Usually when I drank too much, I could guess why I did so, the objective being to murder a state of consciousness that I didn't have the courage to sustain--a fear of heights, which sometimes during the carnival of the 1960s accompanied my attempts to transform the bourgeois journalist into an avant-garde novelist. The stepped-up ambition was a commonplace among the would-be William Faulkners of my generation; nearly always it resulted in commercial failure and literary embarrassment.” SometimesStatesWould BeConsciousnessToo MuchGenerationsAmbitionMurderObjectivesJournalistNovelistsHeight1960sEmbarrassmentDrankCommonplaceBourgeoisMy GenerationAvant GardeStates Of ConsciousnessCarnivals Author:Lewis H. Lapham
“I had come to believe that I was not as clever as some other kids who were my friends. And yet I knew even then that I wanted to do something of an intellectual nature, and excel at it. I also realized that if I was going to succeed at all, it would be through hard work.” IfsBelieveHardWould BeKidsWantedHard WorkSucceedAmbitionIntellectualMy FriendsClever Author:Irving Sandler
“I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.” IfsWayArtSaidBookWould BeEnergyLanguageTroubleBrotherProveAmbitionSolutionsCriminalsSuperiorsObservationAgentsMy BrotherReasoningDetectivesDeductionsVerifyArmchairsNo Energy Book:The Best of Sherlock Holmes Source: The Best of Sherlock Holmes
“We [H&M] believe that growth, profit and sustainability are not contradictory. Our ambition is to be a fair and profitable company, because otherwise we couldn't open any new stores, we couldn't produce new designs and no new jobs would be created. H&M would soon cease to exist.” BelieveWould BeJobsGrowthCompanyDesignProduceAmbitionFairsProfitStoresCeaseSustainabilityProfitableContradictoryNew Job Author:Karl-Johan Persson
“I emphasize the dual mission of the Life Cube Project: involving as many members of the community as possible; and encouraging people to write down their goals, ambitions and wishes. I hope that the concept has an impact on these students' lives - that would be my dream.” PeopleWritingDreamWould BeWishGoalCommunityStudentsMembersAmbitionProjectsConceptsImpactMissionsInvolvingCubesStudent Life Author:Scott Cohen
“I think that if I have one hope, 1 ambition, 1 aspiration for the next 4 or 5 years it would be that I can improve as a writer and just be able to say more of what I want to say throught the music.” IfsThinkingWantYearsI CanWould BeAbleNextAmbitionAspiration Author:Neil Diamond
“I love being a writer. I am very lucky my life's ambition turned out to be just as much fun as I thought it would be.” Would BeFunLove IsLuckyAmbition Author:J. K. Rowling
“When I was young, my ambitions were very modest. I thought, "If only I could play at the battle of the bands at the Y, that would be the culmination of existence!"” IfsPlayWould BeYoungExistenceBattleBandAmbitionModestMy AmbitionCulmination Author:Neil Peart
“I was influenced by the Beats because I actually just began to commit adolescence around 1955, when "Howl" and Rebel Without a Cause and a lot of other new things were popping up. (Again I'm trying to give you a finite version of this career.) And then I came under the sway of Wallace Stevens when I was in college and graduate school, and basically set as a life goal the ambition of writing third-rate Wallace Stevens. I thought I would be completely content if I was recognized at some later point in my life as a third-rate Wallace Stevens.” IfsGivingWritingTryingWould BeSchoolCausesGoalCareersCollegeAmbitionBeatsThirdsRateCommitVersionsRebelGraduatesNew ThingsAdolescenceFiniteLife GoalHowlGraduate SchoolPoppingRebels Without A Cause Author:Billy Collins
“I have been absolutely hag-ridden with ambition. If I could wish to have anything in the world it would be to be free of ambition.” IfsWorldHas BeensWould BeWishAmbitionIf I Could Author:Tallulah Bankhead
“Someone said to me, 'If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?' My answer was then and still is, 'If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.'” IfsGivingShouldSaidStillsWould BeAnswersInspiringTalentGiving UpAmbitionPercentHundredHollywoodExpertsFifty Author:Marilyn Monroe
“We have advantages. We have a cushion to fall back on. This is abundance. A luxury of place and time. Something rare and wonderful. It's almost historically unprecedented. We must do extraordinary things. We have to. It would be absurd not to.” Would BeFallWonderfulAmbitionAdvantageExtraordinaryAbsurdLuxuryAbundanceUnprecedentedFall BackExtraordinary ThingsCushionsPlace And Time Author:Dave Eggers
“I don’t understand why we must do things in this world, why we must have friends and aspirations, hopes and dreams. Wouldn’t it be better to retreat to a faraway corner of the world, where all its noise and complications would be heard no more? Then we could renounce culture and ambitions; we would lose everything and gain nothing; for what is there to be gained from this world?” WorldDreamWould BeCultureLosesHeardThis WorldAmbitionGainsCornersNoiseAspirationRetreatRenounceComplicationHopes And DreamsCorners Of The World Author:Emile M. Cioran
“If one were truly aware of the value of human life, to waste it blithely on distractions and the pursuit of vulgar ambitions would be the height of confusion.” IfsHumansWisdomWould BeSufferingValuesBuddhismWasteAmbitionMindfulnessPursuitConfusionHuman LifeHeightDistractionVulgarValue Of Human Life Author:Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
“If people would forget about utopia! When rationalism destroyed heaven and decided to set it up here on earth, that most terrible of all goals entered human ambition. It was clear there'd be no end to what people would be made to suffer for it.” PeopleIfsHumansMadeEndsWould BeEarthSufferingHeavenGoalForgetClearTerribleAmbitionDecidedDestroyedUtopiaRationalism Book:Burger's Daughter Source: Burger's Daughter