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Ambition is an idol on whose wings
Great minds are carry'd only to extreme;
To be sublimely great, or to be nothing.

— Thomas Southerne

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Ambition

More quotes by Thomas Southerne

Of the king's creation you may be; but he who makes a count ne'er made a man.

Pity's akin to love; and every thought
Of that soft kind is welcome to my soul.

Oroonoko: A Tragedy (1695)

And when we're worn,
Hack’d, hewn with constant service, thrown aside
To rust in peace, or rot in hospitals.

The Loyal Brother (1682)

'Tis something to be willing to commend;
But my best praise is, that I am your friend.

All Thomas Southerne quotes →

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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: Thomas Southerne (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.