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.

The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.

The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.

Ambition never comes to an end.

Ambition never comes to an end.

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.]

Oh that I were seated as high as my ambition, I'd place my naked foot on the necks of monarchs.

Oh that I were seated as high as my ambition, I'd place my naked foot on the necks of monarchs.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make read more

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.

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

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.

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.