Skip to content

Ambition is the luxury of the happy. It is sometimes, but more rarely, the consolation and distraction of the wretched...

— William Edward Hartpole Lecky The map of life; conduct and character (1899)

Another quote →

Topics

Ambition

More quotes by William Edward Hartpole Lecky

The great difficulty of Christianity is that many of the Bible revelations seem to clash with our sense of justice and right.

The Religious Tendencies of the Age (1860)

The great art in politics consists not in hearing those who speak, but in hearing those who are silent.

The map of life; conduct and character (1899)

Terror is everywhere the beginning of religion.

History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (1910)

There have certainly been many periods in history when virtue was more rare than under the Caesars; but there has probably never been a period when vice was more extravagant or uncontrolled.

A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (1869)

There was a tradition that Pythagoras had himself penetrated to India, and learnt philosophy from the gymnosophists.

A History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (1869)

All William Edward Hartpole Lecky quotes →

You may also like

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