First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring read more

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

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.

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.

Here may we reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell.
read more

Here may we reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell.
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

On the summit see,
The seals of office glitter in his eyes;
He climbs, he pants, he read more

On the summit see,
The seals of office glitter in his eyes;
He climbs, he pants, he grasps them! At his heels,
Close at his heels, a demagogue ascends,
And with a dexterous jerk soon twists him down,
And wins them, but to lose them in his turn.

Ambition is an idol, on whose wings great minds are carried only to extreme; to be sublimely great or to read more

Ambition is an idol, on whose wings great minds are carried only to extreme; to be sublimely great or to be nothing.

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.

If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.