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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.

— Joseph Conrad Misattributed

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Source, in full

Though sometimes attributed to Conrad it is a misquotation from Captain James Cook's journals (1774-01-30): "I whose ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go, was not sorry at meeting with this interruption."

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Ambition

More quotes by Joseph Conrad

Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love — and to put its trust in life!!

The sea never changes and its works, for all the talk of men, are wrapped in mystery.

Typhoon (1902)

An artist is a man of action, whether he creates a personality, invents an expedient, or finds the issue of a complicated situation.

The Mirror of the Sea (1906)

It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.

An Outcast of the Islands (1896)

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

Under Western Eyes (1911)

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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)

Attribution

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