Ambition Proverbs
Sayings about Ambition
Meanness looks through one eye only, ambition is blind. ~ Russian ProverbHe, who opens his heart for ambition, closes it for the rest. ~ Chinese Proverb
Ambition begets troubles. ~ Senegalese Proverb
Do not let big ambitions overshadow small successes. ~ Saying
If you want to go up in the world, veil ambition with the forms of humanity. ~ Chinese Proverb
He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes. ~ Chinese Proverb
To feed the ambition in your heart is like carrying a tiger under your arm. ~ Chinese Proverb
Ambition and fleas jump high. ~ German Proverb
The ambitious one makes friends with the elephant, and then tramples upon the ant. ~ Indian Proverb
Every ambitious man is a captive and every covetous one a pauper. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb
Ambition and revenge are always hungry. ~ Danish Proverb
Ambition destroys its possessor. ~ Hebrew Proverb
False ambition serves the neck. ~ Egyptian Proverb
After a rich man gets rich, his next ambition is to get richer. ~ American Proverb
A man with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace. ~ Chadian Proverb
When ambition ends, happiness begins. ~ Hungarian Proverb
Quotations about Ambition
Ambition, like a torrent, never looks back. ~ Ben JonsonAmbition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence; it is the action of impurity upon impurity. ~ T.S. Eliot
Big results require big ambitions. ~ James Champy
Ambition and love are the wings to great deeds. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~ Mark Twain
There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. ~ Henry Jackson van Dyke
Ambition is like hunger; it obeys no law but its appetite. ~ Henry Wheeler Shaw
To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone. ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
The modesty of certain ambitious persons consists in becoming great without making too much noise; it may be said that they advance in the world on tiptoe. ~ Voltaire
Don't let ambition get so far ahead that it loses sight of the job at hand. ~ William Feather
Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us. Its appetite grows keener by indulgence and all we can gratify it with at present serves but the more to inflame its insatiable desires. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Ambition can creep as well as soar. ~ Edmund Burke
The ambitious deceive themselves when they propose an end to their ambition; for that end, when attained, becomes a means. ~ Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Beware ambition; heaven is not reached with pride; but with submission. ~ Thomas Middleton
The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves. ~ Herbert N. Casson
To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being. ~ Sir John Lubbock
Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli
Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds. ~ Christopher Marlowe
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires. ~ Joseph Conrad
Take away ambition and vanity, and where will be your heroes and patriots? ~ Seneca
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. ~ Carl Edward Sagan
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. ~ Charlie McCarthy
Ambition is a Dead Sea fruit, and the greatest peril to the soul is that one is likely to get precisely what he is seeking. ~ Edward Dahlberg
We frequently pass from love to ambition, but one seldom returns from ambition to love. ~ Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld
Ambition is to the mind what the cap is to the falcon; it blinds us first, and then compels us to tower by reason of our blindness. But alas! When we are at the summit of a vain ambition, we are also at the depth of misery. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
We pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self-denial, anxiety and discouragement. ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery
To be ambitious of true honor, of the true glory end perfection of our natures, is the very principle and incentive of virtue; but to be ambitious of titles, of place, of ceremonial respects and civil pageantry, is as vain and little as the things are which we court. ~ Sir Philip Sidney
Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
What is ambition? It is a glorious cheat! Angels of light walk not so dazzlingly the sapphire walls of heaven. ~ Nathaniel Parker Willis
Everyone has before his eyes an end which he pursues till death; but for many that end is a feather which they blow before them in the air. ~ Robert Nicoll
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand, And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land. ~ John Dryden
Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings. ~ C. Archie Danielson
Few are unhappy than those who have great ambition, but little energy to urge it into activity. ~ Norman MacDonald
Very few people are ambitious in the sense of having a specific image of what they want to achieve. Most people's sights are only toward the next run, the next increment of money. ~ Judith M. Bardwick
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favor cannot satisfy him. ~ Samuel Johnson
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. ~ Bill Bradley
Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable. ~ Joseph Joubert
The ambitious are forever followed by adulation for they receive the most pleasure from flattery. ~ Oliver Goldsmith
Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude. ~ Sir Walter Scott
Ambition is the last infirmity of noble minds. ~ James Matthew Barrie
My ambition is not to be just a good fighter. I want to be great, something special. ~ Sugar Ray Leonard
Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture with creeping. ~ Jonathan Swift
Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition. ~ Timothy Leary
Wisdom is corrupted by ambition, even when the quality of the ambition is intellectual. For ambition even of this quality, is but a form of self-love. ~ Sir Henry Taylor
Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens. ~ William Lilly
The ambitious climbs up high and perilous stairs, and never cares how to come down; the desire of rising hath swallowed up his fear of a fall. ~ Thomas Adams
Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals. ~ Buddha
Think. Think about your appearance, associations, actions, ambitions, accomplishment. ~ Thomas J. Watson
Ambition's debt is paid. ~ William Shakespeare
Ambition's cradle oftenest is its grave. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go. ~ James R. Cook
Ambition is a vice, but it may be the father of virtue. ~ Quintilian
The tragedy is that so many have ambition and so few have ability. ~ William Feather
Ambition has no rest! ~ Baron Lytton
A man without ambition is like a beautiful worm--it can creep, but it cannot fly. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
The tallest trees are most in the power of the winds, and ambitious men of the blasts of Fortune. ~ William Penn
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Ambition aspires to descend. ~ Pierre Corneille
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Ambition is not a vice of little people. ~ Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
It is my ambition to say in ten sentences; what others say in a whole book. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
When once ambition has passed its natural limits, its progress is boundless. ~ Seneca
Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
Ambition if it feeds at all does so on the ambition of others. ~ Susan Sontag
I think my greatest ambition in life is to pass on to others what I know. ~ Frank Sinatra
Ambition is no cure for love! ~ Sir Walter Scott,
Where ambition can cover its enterprises, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of passions. ~ David Hume
Ambition makes more trusty slaves than need. ~ Ben Jonson
Ambition is the mind's immodesty. ~ Sir William D'Avenant
The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. ~ William Shakespeare
Think not ambition wise, because 't is brave. ~ Sir William D'Avenant
No man is born without ambitious worldly desires. ~ Thomas Carlyle
Ambition is the way in which a vulgar man aspires. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
A slave has but one master; the ambitious man has as many masters as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortune. ~ Jean de la Bruyere
Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top. ~ Robert Burton
Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream. ~ William Shakespeare
At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. ~ Salvador Dali
Ambition -- it is the last infirmity of noble minds. ~ James M. Barrie
Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment. ~ Thomas Otway
Ambition is a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the original of vices, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines into maladies, and remedies into diseases. ~ Thomas Brooks
Ambition thinks no face so beautiful as that which looks from under a crown. ~ Sir Philip Sidney
Time is the only critic without ambition. ~ John Steinbeck
As falls the dew on quenchless sands, blood only serves to wash ambition's hands. ~ Lord Byron
If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now. ~ Mildred McAfee
It is observed by Cicero, that men of the greatest and most shining parts are most actuated by ambition. ~ Joseph Addison
To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution. ~ Samuel Johnson
All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it. ~ Marcus Annaeus Seneca
I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom. ~ Angus Grossart
I begin where most people end, with a full conviction of the emptiness of all sorts of ambition, and the unsatisfactory nature of all human pleasures. ~ Alexander Pope
Ambitions tend to remain undisturbed by realities. ~ Frank Herbert
Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness. ~ John Webster
The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes. ~ Jean De La Bruyere
The object of ambition, unlike that of love, never being wholly possessed, ambition is the more durable passion of the two. ~ Baron Lytton
If ambition doesn't hurt you, you haven't got it. ~ Kathleen Norris
A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. ~ Pearl Bailey
Ambition is an idol, on whose wings great minds are carried only to extreme, to be sublimely great, or to be nothing. ~ Thomas Southerne
Blood only serves to wash Ambition's hands. ~ Lord Byron
Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds. ~ Thomas Dunn English
If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. ~ Publilius Syrus
Ambition is a drug that makes its addicts potential madmen. ~ Emil Cion
What is ambition but desire of greatness? And what is greatness but extent of power? ~ Sir Thomas Higgons
To appear unambitious amongst the ambitious is to invite loathing or fear. To be in the game, but not playing with intent to win, is to be the enemy. ~ Josephine Hart
I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal; I had an ambition to build. ~ John D. Rockefeller
By low ambition and the thirst of praise. ~ William Cowper
Do not let big ambitions overshadow small successes. ~ Author Unknown
Ambition never comes to an end. ~ Yoshida Kenko
Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead. ~ Ambrose Bierce
Two men are equally free from the rage of ambition; are they therefore equal in merit? Perhaps not; one may be above ambition, the other below it. ~ Fluk Greville
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. ~ Oscar Wilde
Ambition is not what man does... but what man would do. ~ Robert Browning
I hope I shall have ambition until the day I die. ~ Clare Boothe Luce
