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.

I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it read more

I had ambition not only to go farther than any man had ever been before, but as far as it was possible for a man to go.

Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy read more

Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition.

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, read more

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

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.

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.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

Where there are large powers with little ambition... nature may be said to have fallen short of her purposes.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where read more

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 errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.