Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise.
By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies?
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Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise.
By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies?
Heav'n still with laughter the vain toil surveys,
And buries madmen in the heaps they raise.

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

What I aspired to be and was not, comforts me.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.

He was utterly without ambition [Chas. II.]. He detested
business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have read more

He was utterly without ambition [Chas. II.]. He detested
business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have
undergone the trouble of really directing the administration.

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not
troubled with great ambitions.

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not
troubled with great ambitions.

Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same position with creeping.

Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same position with creeping.

I strike the stars with by sublime head.
[Lat., Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]

I strike the stars with by sublime head.
[Lat., Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]