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.

For all may have,
If they dare to try, a glorious life, or grave.

For all may have,
If they dare to try, a glorious life, or grave.

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

We grow small trying to be great.

We grow small trying to be great.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to
the second or even the third rank.
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When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to
the second or even the third rank.
[Lat., Prima enim sequentem, honestumn est in secundis,
tertiisque consistere.]

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

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one,
May hope to achieve it before life be read more

The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one,
May hope to achieve it before life be done;
But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes,
Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows
A harvest of barren regrets.

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.