Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.

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.

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.]

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.

I strike the stars with by sublime head.
[Lat., Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]

I strike the stars with by sublime head.
[Lat., Sublimi feriam sidera vertice.]

When ambition ends, happiness begins.

When ambition ends, happiness begins.

I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to read more

I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build.

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.