Oh, sons of earth! attempt ye still to rise.
By mountains pil'd on mountains to the skies?
read more

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.

Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, read more

Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top.

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.

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.

On what strange stuff Ambition feeds!

On what strange stuff Ambition feeds!

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 you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.

When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees.

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.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.

Ambition is the last refuge of failure.