Great Ambition Quotes

• Great ambition is the passion of a great character.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Character, Passion, Ambition

  12 Copy quote

• Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

  John D. Rockefeller

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  170 Copy quote

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

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

  Inspirational, Motivational, Time

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, J. D. McClatchy (2000). “Poems and Other Writings”, p.796, Library of America

  54 Copy quote

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• 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.

  Mark Twain

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  Mark Twain, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger (2009). “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips: A Book of Quotations”, p.354, Courier Corporation

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• If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now.

  Mildred H. McAfee

  Motivational, Trust, Courage

  49 Copy quote

• There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

  Beverly Sills

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  "Conquering an Enemy Called Average". Book by John Mason, 1996.

  110 Copy quote

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• Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.

  Timothy Leary

  Funny, Hilarious, Girly

  "Third and Possibly the Best 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said". Book by Robert Byrne, No. 40, 1986.

  297 Copy quote

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• They [i.e. ambitious men] may not cease, but as a dog in a wheel, a bird in a cage, or a squirrel in a chain, so Budaeus compares them; they climb and climb still, with much labour, but never make an end, never at the top.

  Robert Burton

  Dog, Business, Ambition

  "The Anatomy of Melancholy". Book by Robert Burton, 1621.

  9 Copy quote

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• We grow small trying to be great.

  E. Stanley Jones

  Inspirational, Funny, Ambition

  9 Copy quote

• Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Leadership, War, Character

  41 Copy quote

• I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.

  Thomas Carlyle

  Inspirational, Ambition, Boredom

  88 Copy quote

• The great ambition of women is to inspire love.

  Moliere

  Love, Ambition, Dating

  8 Copy quote

• 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 at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

  Theodore Roosevelt

  Motivational, Courage, Strong

  Address at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 Apr. 1910. Richard M. Nixon quoted this passage in his address to the nation announcing his decision to resign the presidency, 8 Aug. 1974. See Theodore Roosevelt 1; Theodore Roosevelt 2; Theodore Roosevelt 5

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• If at great things thou would'st arrive, Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap, Not difficult, if thou hearken to me; Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand, They whom I favor thrive in wealth amain, While virtue, valor, wisdom, sit in want.

  John Milton

  Ambition, Hands, Treasure

  John Milton (1785). “Paradise Regain'd: A Poem, in Four Books. To which is Added Samson Agonistes: and Poems Upon Several Occasions. The Author John Milton. A New Edition. With Notes of Various Authors, by Thomas Newton, ...”, p.92

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• Don’t be afraid to give up the good for the great.

  Steve Prefontaine

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  70 Copy quote

• Greatly begin. Though thou have time, but for a line, be that sublime. Not failure, but low aim is crime.

  James Russell Lowell

  Ambition, Sublime, Lines

  James Russell Lowell (1871). “The poetical works of James Russell Lowell”, p.382

  8 Copy quote

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• Ambition is a Dead Sea fruit, and the greatest peril to the soul is that one is likely to get precisely what he is seeking.

  Edward Dahlberg

  Work, Ocean, Ambition

  Edward Dahlberg (1967). “Alms for Oblivion”, U of Minnesota Press

  9 Copy quote

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

  Shakti Gawain

  Ambition, Idols, Wings

  8 Copy quote

• Great ambition, the desire of real superiority, of leading and directing, seems to be altogether peculiar to man, and speech is the great instrument of ambition.

  Adam Smith

  Real, Ambition, Men

  Adam Smith (1817). “The Theory of Moral Sentiments: Or, An Essay Towards an Analysis of the Principles by which Men Naturally Judge Concerning the Conduct and Character, First of Their Neighbours, and Afterwards of Themselves : to which is Added, A Dissertation on the Origin of Languages”, p.550

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• Do not let great ambitions overshadow small success.

  Miguel Angel Ruiz

  Ambition, Small Successes

  9 Copy quote

• Great Ambition, unchecked by principle, or the love of Glory, is an unruly Tyrant.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Ambition, Tyrants, Principles

  Alexander Hamilton (1850). “The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Correspondence [contin.] 1795-1804; 1777; 1791. Letters of H. G. 1789. Address to public creditors. 1790. Vindication of funding system. 1791”, p.423

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• For me, ambition has become a dirty word. I prefer hunger. To be hungry- great. To have hopes, dreams- great.

  Johnny Depp

  Dream, Dirty, Ambition

  7 Copy quote

• Only those with great ambitions know what great fears drive them forward.

  Peter Ackroyd

  Ambition, Knows

  "The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde". Book by Peter Ackroyd, 1983.

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• Few are more unhappy than those who have great ambition, but little energy to urge it into activity.

  Norm MacDonald

  Ambition, Unhappy, Energy

  4 Copy quote

• By Gryffindor, the bravest were Prized far beyond the rest; For Ravenclaw, the cleverest Would always be the best; For Hufflepuff, hard workers were Most worthy of admission; And power-hungry Slytherin Loved those of great ambition.

  J. K. Rowling

  Ambition, Gryffindor, Hogwarts

  127 Copy quote