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Alexander Pope on Ambition

1688–1744 England

← All quotes by Alexander Pope

5 quotes

But see how oft ambition's aims are cross'd,
And chiefs contend 'til all the prize is lost!

The Rape of the Lock (1712)

Ambition first sprung from your blest abodes;
The glorious fault of Angels and of Gods.

The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope (1717)

Who knows but He, whose hand the lightning forms.
Who heaves old ocean, and who wings the storms,
Pours fierce ambition in a Cæsar's mind.

Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things
To low ambition and the pride of Kings.

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.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Alexander Pope (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.