No Ambition Quotes

There was no ambition to be famous, no desire to have pieces played by famous orchestras, no secret wish for commissions or prizes or for being "taken up" by prominent art lovers. I simply hoped I could learn to do something well. ~ Alec Wilder

Just to get through life was no ambition. It was the opposite of ambition. ~ Susanna Kaysen

Such women as you a hundred men always convet - your eyes will only bewitch scores on scores into the unvailing fancy for you - you can only marry one of that many. Out of these say twenty will will endeavour to drown the bitterness of despised love in drink; twenty more will mope away their lives without a wish or attempt to make a mark in the world, because they have no ambition apart from their attachment to you; twenty more - the suspectible person myself possibly among them - will be always draggling after you, getting where they may just see you, doing desperate things. Men are such constant fools! The rest may try to get over their passion with more or less success. But all of these men will be saddened. And not only those ninety-nine men, but the ninety-nine women they might have married are saddened with them. There's my tale. That's why I say that a woman so charming as yourself, Miss Everdene, is hardly a blessing to her race (Ch. 26) ~ Thomas Hardy

Look, people need to conform the external reality they face daily with this subjective feeling they likewise experience constantly. To do this they have two options. First, they can achieve what passes for great things. Now the external reality matches their feeling; they really are better than the rest and maybe they'll even be remembered as such. These are the ambitious people, the overachievers. These are also, however, the people who go on these abominable talk shows where they can trade their psychoses for exposure on that box, modernity's ultimate achievement. Not that this tact, being ambitious, is not the preferred course of action. The reason is it's the equivalent of sticking your neck out which we all know is dangerous. Instead many act like they have no ambition whatsoever. Their necks come back in and they're safe. Only problem is now they're at everyone else's level, which we've seen is untenable. The remedy of course is that everyone else needs to be sunk. This helps explain racism's enduring popularity. If I myself don't appear to be markedly superior to everyone else at least I'm part of the better race, country, religion et cetera. This in turn reflects well on my individual worth. There are other options, of course. For example, you can constantly bemoan others' lack of moral worth by extension elevating yourself. Think of the average person's reaction to our clients. Do these people strike you as so truly righteous that they are viscerally pained by our cl ~ Sergio De La Pava

No ambition but to use up the big wages on more drink and more hopeless horses. ~ Irvine Welsh

To the lazy man the world appears bereft of all blessings; if poor, he has no friends; if rich, he has no ambition; he aims at nothing, and generally hits his mark. ~ James Ellis

It's so funny, actors usually have a directing ambition. I've got no ambition for directing. ~ Majandra Delfino

I was too hard to decide just what she hated most about [Kyleren]. There were so many thing. She hated his humor. It attacked her without fear. She hated the way he laughed. It was too irresponsible. She hated his smile. Full of confidence, it displayed too much self-assurance. She especially loathed his clarity of mind. His singular obsession with achieving the next objective. Kyleren possessed no ambition, no need to prove himself. It made him predictable, honest, and easy to trust. ~ Amanda Gerry

I have no ambition to play the part of a mother, and why should I interfere with her illusions? I find it hard enough to keep my own. ~ Oscar Wilde

No ambition which feeds on blood can be a worthy one ~ Nilesh Rathod

They believe civilization weakens natural selection. They do nature's work so that we do not become a soft race. The Passage, it seems, is a continuation of that policy. Only we were the tools they used. My ... victim ... was, bless his soul, a fool. He was from a family of no worth, and he had no wits, no intelligence, no ambition," he frowns at the words before sighing, "he had nothing the Board values. There is a reason he was to die."
Was there a reason Julian was to die?
Roque knows what he does because his mother is on the Board. He loathes his mother, and only then do I realize I should like him. Not only that, I take refuge in his words. He disagrees with the rules, but he follows them. It is possible. I can do the same until I have power enough to change them. ~ Pierce Brown

Today's politicians are like policemen on traffic duty. They are just dealing with traffic right in front of them. Yet they want to be the Superintendent based on that alone. The politicians and the bigwigs in finance have no ambition. There are too many who confuse the power that they got by their position as their own ability. ~ Jiro Shirasu

To accept yourself wherever. you are ... And don't think in terms of competition! You need not be anywhere else. Wherever you are, if you can be happy there, you have become religious, you have become spiritual. Spirituality knows no competition, spirituality knows no greed, spirituality knows no ambition - because spirituality means desirelessness. ~ Rajneesh

I believe that Jesus would have given His life for just one person. Jesus emptied Himself, He humbled Himself and He so yielded Himself to His Father's love that He had no ambition of His own. He was not looking to build an empire, He did not want praise or adulation or to impress people with who or how many followed Him. He stopped over and over again for just one person, for just one life. ~ Heidi Baker

I have no ambition to govern men; it is a painful and thankless office. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I was lucky to learn early in life that you need money for food and shelter, but there's no ambition in having money in the bank for the sake of it! ~ Helen McCrory

I had no ambition when I was a kid other than to play guitar and get in a rock 'n' roll band. I don't really like to be the guy in the white suit at the front. Like in the Beatles, I was the one who kept quiet at the back and let the other egos be at the front. ~ George Harrison

I have absolutely no ambition. My goal has already been exceeded. ~ Shamir

Defender of the liberty that I idolize, myself more free than anyone, in coming as a friend to offer my services to this intriguing republic, I bring to it only my frankness and my good will; no ambition, no self-interest; in working for my glory, I work for their happiness. ~ Marquis De Lafayette

I'm not an ambitious person, there is no ambition in my life. I have a mission in my life. And my mission is to serve my country. And when I am working for my state, it means I am working for my country, or my nation. ~ Narendra Modi

I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build. ~ Eden Phillpotts

I on the other side Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds; The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the doer. ~ John Milton

Sitting here, and thus, she had attained to a state which she could never have desired, not even conceived. And being so unforeseen, so alien to her character and upbringing, her felicity had an absolute perfection; no comparison between the desired and the actual could tear holes in it, no ambition whisper, But this is not quite what you wanted, is it? ~ Sylvia Townsend Warner

I had no ambition to be a writer because the books I read were too good, my standards were too high. ~ Haruki Murakami

I have no ambition for what society says is important as far as things like money, and all that kind of stuff.' What I am ambitious about is I want to be the best wrestler that I can possibly be, and I think there's some sort of mistake in generations, as far as what he thinks as far as our generation lacking ambition. ~ Daniel Bryan

I have no ambition to change my nature, I merely intend to conquer my dislikes. ~ Georges Bernanos

I expected as much from you, girl," said Caul. "You're so typical of ymbryne-raised peculiars: no ambition, and no sense at all but one of entitlement. Quiet yourself, I am speaking to the male. ~ Ransom Riggs

Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas. ~ Benjamin Franklin

When there is no thought. no desire, no ambition, in that state of no-mind truth descends in you - or ascends in you. As far as the dimension of truth is concerned both are the same, because in the world of the innermost subjectivity height and depth mean the same. It is one dimension: the vertical dimension. Mind moves horizontally, no-mind exists vertically. The moment the mind ceases to function - that's what meditation is all about: cessation of the mind, total cessation of the mind - your consciousness becomes vertical; depth and height are yours. ~ Rajneesh

I can't sing. Definitely no ambition in that area. ~ Corin Nemec

Frog in the mud is happier than the man, because it has no ambition to reach the stars! ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

I had no ambition to become an actor at all. ~ Danny Huston

That's what you got for being a servant of no ambition: a shrunken life, hung up like a gibbet as a warning to others. ~ Emma Donoghue

The idea of putting out an album is quite exciting because it's sharing your creativity with people. There's no ambition to be famous. I couldn't care less about that. ~ Bryan Adams

What likelihood is there of corrupting a man who has no ambition? ~ Samuel Richardson

My boat is nearing the calm harbour from which it is never more to be driven out. Glory, glory unto Mother! (Referring to the Divine Mother of the Universe.) I have no wish, no ambition now. Blessed be Mother! I am the servant of Ramakrishna. I am merely a machine. I know nothing else. Nor do I want to know. ~ Swami Vivekananda

At the age of 12 my ambition was to become a gangster. To be a wiseguy. Being a wiseguy was better than being President of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world. ~ Henry Hill

She'd always pictured her future self as a lone wolf traveling around the world, ensnaring romantic conquests and achieving her wildest and most ambitious goals. She didn't think that at nineteen she would be so dependent on other people; she pictured herself as an autonomous and untouchable force that occasionally flitted back home to show off her new feathers before flying away to her life that was much more exciting than theirs. ~ Katie Neipris

I do not belong to any spiritual group or tradition. I am just interested in exploring what it means to live with open eyes.
People in spiritual organizations also tend to get caught in ideas of how it should be, and in the need of the ego to create hierachies of power, status, roles, ambition and obidience.
Spiritual Masters teach on many different levels at the same time. Some people take what they can, and some take something deeper. ~ Swami Dhyan Giten

But women are very differently situated with respect to eachother - for they are all rivals ( ... ) Is it then surprising that when the sole ambition of woman centres in beauty, and interest gives vanity additional force, perpetual rivalships should ensue? They are all running the same race, and would rise above the virtue of morals, if they did not view each other with a suspicious and even envious eye. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft

Never compete with any man but yourself. Seek to develop yourself. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

When the right stage gets missing, true talent that can grow to inspire, nurture and change lives least gets the right stage to manifest; real deft and dexterity remains latent and people only die with their dreams, abilities and capabilities. ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Thus, his ambition led him not to relieve his patients' madness, but to exasperate it - to let it breathe with a life of its own. And this he did in certain ways that wholly eradicated what human attributes remained in these people. But sometimes that peculiar magic he saw in their eyes would seem to fade, and then he would institute his 'proper treatment,' which consisted of putting them through a battery of hellish ordeals intended to loosen their attachment to the world of humanity and to project them further into the realm of the 'silent, staring universe' where the insanity of the infinite might work a rather paradoxical cure. The result was something as pathetic as a puppet and as exalted as the stars, something at once dead and never dying, a thing utterly without destiny and thus imperishable, forever consigned to that abysmal vacuity which is the essence of all that is immortal. ~ Thomas Ligotti

But there is much to be said for giving up ... grand ambitions and living the most ordinary life imaginable. ~ Walker Percy

I'm definitely responsible for the image that I put out there. But it does become frustrating, because I don't want 'sexy' to be my defining characteristic. I'd love for my ambition and will and intellect and sense of humour to define me as well. ~ Eva Mendes

If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk.. ~ Zoro

Enough of little lives led by little people, crumpling under the weight of stress. And enough of empty ambition masquerading as something grand yet marked by the numbing effects of a vacant heart. ~ Louie Giglio

Keep exploring, you will discover new path. ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

Nothing becomes some women more than the prick of ambition. Love, on the contrary, may make them very dull. ~ Francoise Sagan

Ambition is not what a man would do, but what a man does, for ambition without action is fantasy. ~ Bryant H. McGill

The great ambition should be to excel all others engaged in the same occupation. ~ P.T. Barnum

We now know most things that can be measured in this world, except the bounds of human ambition! ~ Jules Verne

In teaching, I wanted to offer a general pharmacology course based on chemical principles, biochemical classification and mathematical modelling. In the event I achieved neither of my ambitions. ~ James W. Black

We must distinguish between felicity and prosperity; for prosperity leads often to ambition, and ambition to disappointment; the course is then over, the wheel turns round but once, while the reaction of goodness and happiness is perpetual. ~ Walter Savage Landor

It's a rough and tumble game whenever power is involved - people's ambitions, their desires, their competitive spirit will often push them to play outside the rules. It's dramatic, it's interesting, and I think it's something we can all identify with to a degree. ~ Beau Willimon

His ambition was to insert his dreams into the world, and if they were the wrong dreams, then he would dream them in solitude. ~ Steven Millhauser

My favorite literary heroine is Jo March. It is hard to overstate what she meant to a small, plain girl called Jo, who had a hot temper and a burning ambition to be a writer. ~ J.K. Rowling

You know one day, you're going to look back on these days. And everyone you went to high school with will either be getting married to each other, shitting out kids, or dropping dead like flies," when she spoke, Miss Jenson sighed at the end of every few words; she must have been narrating her own thoughts she might have otherwise kept to herself, "and everything you never did, you'll never be able to even try. ~ Dave Matthes

Punish the pushers and shovers by letting them get ahead. ~ Marty Rubin

We honor ambition, we reward greed, we celebrate materialism, we worship acquisitiveness, we commercialize art, we cherish success and then we bark at the young about the gentle arts of the spirit. The kids know that if we really valued learning, we would pay our teachers what we pay our lawyers and stockbrokers. If we valued art, we would not measure it by its capacity to produce profits. If we regarded literature as important, we would remove it from the celebrity sweepstakes and spend a little money on our libraries. ~ Russell Baker

We have now an American political party and a European one. Not all Americans who vote for the European party want to become Europeans. But it doesn't matter because that's what they're voting for. They're voting for dependency, for lack of ambition, and for insolvency. ~ Harvey Mansfield

One of my ambitions has been to go back to what those great authors were doing then ... to bridge that sensibility of old Victorian Gothic tales and reconstruct them in a modern way. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

C.S. Lewis knew this. He believed that we were too easily satisfied with the "lesser joys" of life instead of pressing on to pure, full joy in Christ. He wrote, "We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition [and food] when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased"7
Solomon, ~ Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

Well, Nicky, I hate to point out the obvious, but here's this tiny bird that's been trying to get through a huge bulletproof glass wall. A totally impossible situation. You tell me it's been here every day pecking away persistently for ten minutes. Well, today the glass came down. ~ Kevin Kwan

Take a moment to ask yourself, "What do I want to be, have, and do?" Suspend any doubts and fears about being unrealistic, and pretend that a philanthropist will finance any ambition you have. Write down detailed descriptions about your ideal life - everything from your dream house, to your ideal relationship, to relaxation and play time, to your perfect career choice. ~ Doreen Virtue

Your true passion in life is what you'd be doing if somebody handed you 100 million dollars. ~ Maggie Young

What happened to all those leading men of the great bacchanalia? They either died of AIDS or accepted roles as supporting actors in the middlebrow drama series of hetero culture-you know, if they're to kiss, we must have sunsets in the background. Once they were proud to explore every crevice of life in the margins, now their ambition is just to get along. Color me unimpressed. ~ Rabih Alameddine

More accustomed to relying upon himself to shape events, he took the greatest control of the process leading up to the nomination, displaying a fierce ambition, an exceptional political acumen, and a wide range of emotional strengths, forged in the crucible of personal hardship, that took his unsuspecting rivals by surprise. ~ Doris Kearns Goodwin

As Herman Melville wrote of that seagoing monster of a man Captain Ahab, "All mortal greatness is but disease. ~ Nathaniel Philbrick

Goethe tells us in his greatest poem that Faust lost the liberty of his soul when he said to the passing moment, 'Stay, thou art so fair. ~ Robert Kennedy