Thoughts on ambition

Image: AFP

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.
—Salvador Dali
Spanish artist 

When ambition ends, happiness begins.
—Thomas Merton
American monk

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.
—Marcus Aurelius
Roman emperor

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
—Oscar Wilde
Irish poet & playwright

Big results require big ambitions.
—Heraclitus
Greek philosopher

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.
—Elvis Presley
American singer & actor

Ambition can creep as well as soar.
—Edmund Burke
Irish statesman

Men rise from one ambition to another: First, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.
—Niccolo Machiavelli
Italian diplomat

Ambition beats genius 99 percent of the time.
—Jay Leno
American television host

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.
—Bob Dylan
American singer-songwriter

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.
—Mark Twain
American author

The psychoanalysis of neurotics has taught us to recognise the intimate connection between wetting the bed and the character trait of ambition.
—Sigmund Freud
Austrian neurologist