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It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies.

— Bartolomé de las Casas History of the Indies (1561)

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Ambition

More quotes by Bartolomé de las Casas

Christ wanted love to be called his single commandment. This we owe to all men. Nobody is excepted.

In Defense of the Indians (1548)

These people are the most devoid of rancors, hatreds, or desire for vengeance of any people in the world.

History of the Indies (1561)

More than thirty other islands in the vicinity of San Juan are for the most part and for the same reason depopulated, and the land laid waste.

History of the Indies (1561)

After the wars and the killings had ended, when usually there survived only some boys, some women, and children, these survivors were distributed among the Christians to be slaves.

History of the Indies (1561)

They laid bets as to who, with one stroke of the sword, could split a man in two or could cut off his head or spill out his entrails with a single stroke of the pike.

History of the Indies (1561)

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Men accept servility in order to acquire wealth; as if they could acquire anything of their own when they cannot even assert that they belong to themselves.

Étienne de La Boétie Discourse on Voluntary Servitude (1548)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

The poor, by thinking unceasingly of money, reach the point of losing the spiritual advantages of non-possession, thereby sinking as low as the rich.

Emil Cioran The Trouble With Being Born (1973)

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune, and favor cannot satisfy him.

Jean de La Bruyère Les Caractères (1688)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Bartolomé de las Casas (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.