Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.

Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.

I see, but cannot reach, the height
That lies forever in the light.

I see, but cannot reach, the height
That lies forever in the light.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by read more

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.

Who know but He, whose hand the lightning forms,
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms,
read more

Who know but He, whose hand the lightning forms,
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms,
Pours fierce ambition in a Caesar's mind.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand,
And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.

But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand,
And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.

A slave has but one master. An ambitious man has as many as there are people who helped him get read more

A slave has but one master. An ambitious man has as many as there are people who helped him get his fortune.

Very few people are ambitious in the sense of having a specific image of what they want to achieve. Most read more

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.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where read more

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.