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.

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.

The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to read more

The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves.

Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we would storm
heaven itself in our folly.
[Lat., read more

Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we would storm
heaven itself in our folly.
[Lat., Nil mortalibus arduum est:
Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia.]

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.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to
the second or even the third rank.
read more

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.]

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.

Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you read more

Aim at the sun and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if you had aimed at an object on a level with yourself.

He was utterly without ambition [Chas. II.]. He detested
business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have read more

He was utterly without ambition [Chas. II.]. He detested
business, and would sooner have abdicated his crown than have
undergone the trouble of really directing the administration.