Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky.

American Proverb

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

Edgar Bergen (1903 - 1978), (Charlie McCarthy)

The nature of society is largely determined¹ by the direction in which talent and ambition flow-by the tilt² of the social landscape.

Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983), The Temper of Our Time, 1967

What seems to be generosity³ is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

Francois De La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)

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

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), Driftwood; Table Talk, 1857

Ambition - it is the last infirmity of noble minds.

James M. Barrie (1860 - 1937)

Ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture⁴ with creeping.

Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745), Miscellanies, 1711

All ambitions are lawful⁵ except those that climb upward on the miseries⁶ or credulities of mankind.

Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)

It's delightful⁷ to have ambitions. I'm so glad I have such a lot. And there never seems to be any end to them—that's the best of it. Just as soon as you attain⁸ to one ambition you see another one glittering higher up still. It does make life so interesting.

L. M. Montgomery (1874 - 1942), Anne of Green Gables, 1908

Dreams, goals, ambitions - these are the stuff man uses for fuel.

L. Ron Hubbard (1911 - 1986)

Keep away from people who try to belittle⁹ your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must thereafter fall with the greatest loss.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 - 1527)

A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings¹⁰ here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest.

Pearl Bailey (1918 - 1990)

Though ambition itself be a vice¹¹, yet it is often times the cause of virtues¹³.

Quintilian

Men are more often bribed¹⁴ by their loyalties¹⁵ and ambitions than by money.

Robert Jackson

Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.

Sallust (86 BC - 34 BC), The War with Catiline

All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.

William Congreve (1670 - 1729)

Ambition, the soldier's virtue¹², rather makes choice of loss, than gain which darkens him.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, sc.1

I have no spur to prick¹⁶ the sides of my intent, but only vaulting¹⁷ ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Macbeth, Act I, sc. 7

I hold ambition of so light a quality that is is but a shadow's shadow.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Hamlet, Act II, sc. 2

Lowliness is young ambition's ladder,

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;

But when he once attains¹⁸ the upmost round,

He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees

By which he did ascend²⁰" target="_blank">ascend¹⁹

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Julius Caesar, Act II, sc.1

Virtue is choked with foul²¹ ambition.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Henry VI, Part II, Act III, sc. 1