Source of Our Ambitions
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto to her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:6
For all men strive to grasp what they do not know, while none strive to grasp what they already know; and all strive to discredit what they do not excel in, while none strive to discredit what they do excel in. There is why there is chaos.
Chuang Tzu, Opening Trunks
All sins have their origin in a sense of inferiority, otherwise called ambition.
Cesare Pavese, The Burning Brand (1961)
A creative artist works on his next composition because he was not satisfied with his previous one. When he loses a critical attitude toward his own work he ceases to be an artist.
Dmitri Shostakovich (1959)
Wanting
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (1855)
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
Samuel Butler, Note-Books (1917)
I worked my life around it, made my dreams around thirst, decided on plans around thirst, always kept it in front of my eyes and in my mind. I never once got up and didn’t have to think about thirst, never once did I look out over the horizon or at the sky and not think about thirst, and no matter how many glasses of water I gulped down, it seemed to grow and it became larger and wanting more, always wanting more.
Jimmy Santiago Baca, A Glass of Water (2009)
In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windemere’s Fan (1892)
Seeking Fame, Living With Fame
Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi, in Esquire (Nov 1962)
Thy destiny is only that of a man, but thy aspirations may be those of a god.
Ovid, Ars Amatoria (2 A.D.)
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11: 4 (Tower of Babel)
You have seen what happens when you hold a glass out to the sun and concentrate all the rays onto one spot, Zorba? That spot catches fire, doesn’t it? Why? Because the sun’s power has not been dispersed but concentrated on that one spot. It is the same with men’s minds. You do miracles, if you concentrate your mind on one thing and only one.
Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek (1946)
I handle fame by not being famous. I’m not famous to me.
Bob Marley
Good Ambition, Bad Ambition: find the balance
Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long.
Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)
Ambition… The glorious fault of angels and of gods.
Alexander Pope, Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady (1717)
Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.
T.S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party (1950)
In ways to greatness, think on this, That slippery all ambition is.
Robert Herrick, Hesperides (1648)
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Acts 8:20
Contentment as an ambition
All that you do makes it impossible for what already is there to express itself.
U.G. Krishnamurti, Conversations With a Man Called U.G.
To seek fulfillment is to invite frustration.
J. Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living
I have had no interest in the compromises of success. I wouldn’t trade my uneventful life for any shining consolation of the marketplace, for any faithful love to spend her life with me, or adorable child to smile up at me and say,’Dad?’
Benjamin Anastar, An Underachiever’s Diary (1998)
The awareness of the ambiguity of one’s highest achievements (as well as one’s deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.
Paul Tillich, 40th anniversary dinner for Time (19630
Meditation is a rich and powerful method of study for anyone who knows how to examine his mind, and to employ it vigorously. I would rather shape my soul than furnish it. There is no exercise that is either feebler or more strenuous, according to the nature of the mind concerned, than of conversing with one’s one thoughts. The greatest men make it their vocation, ‘those for whom to live is to think’ (Cicero). Moreover, nature has favored it with this privilege, that there is nothing we can do for so long a time, nor any action to which we can apply ourselves more frequently and easily. It is the occupation of the gods, says Aristotle, the source from which comes their beatitude and ours.”
Montaigne, Essays, pp.166-167