50 Motivating Quotes About The Power of Ambition

Take away ambition and vanity, and where will be your heroes and patriots? — Seneca the Younger

You can decide to sit back and let life toss you in any direction it wishes or take your destiny in your own hands and create the dream version of your life. It takes ambition to be able to do the latter.

Here are 50 motivating quotes that will fuel your ambition.

1. Big results require big ambitions. — Heraclitus

2. Ambition beats genius 99% of the time. — Jay Leno

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

4. Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.  — Salvador Dali

5. You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.  — Robin Williams

6. A man without ambition is like a beautiful worm–it can creep, but it cannot fly. — Henry Ward Beecher

7. The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed, you must have a larger ambition. — John D Rockefeller

8. You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else’s point of view. — Penelope Cruz

9. Happiness never made anyone rich or famous. That must be why ambitious people avoid it. — Marty Rubin

10. Ambition is enthusiasm with a purpose. — Frank Tyger

11.  A dream without ambition is like a car without gas… you’re not going anywhere. — Sean Hampton

12. The voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again. — John Green

13.  It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the parent of all enterprise, and the cause of all improvement.— Anthony Trollope

14.  Opportunity does not knock.  It presents itself when you beat down the door.— Kyle Chandler

15.  Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story — because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are. — Michelle Obama

16. Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist, while you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water, I drank it.- Anonymous

17. Those with less curiosity or ambition just mumble that God works in mysterious ways. I intend to catch him in the act. — Damien Echols

18. Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that’s the one that is going to help you grow. — Caroline Myss

19. Don’t be afraid to be ambitious about your goals. Hard work never stops. Neither should your dreams. — Dwayne Johnson

20. Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m possible. — Audrey Hepburn

21. The difference between greed and ambition is a greedy person desires things he isn’t prepared to work for. — Habeeb Akande

 22. Talent helps, but it won’t take you as far as ambition. — Paul Arden

23. Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. - Bill Bradley

24. I believe ambition is not a dirty word. It’s just believing in yourself and your abilities.— Reese Witherspoon

25. Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them. - Napoleon Bonaparte

26. The starting point of all achievement is desire.  —Napoleon Hill

27. Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

28. If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened of anyone’s perception of me. — Angelina Jolie

29. Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” — Coco Chanel

30. 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

31. God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest. -  Josiah G. Holland

32. Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for? -  Robert Browning

33.  A young man without ambition is an old man waiting to be.  –  Steven Brust

34.  If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms. - Henry Miller

35. Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams? — Tim Burton

36. Power is not given to you. You have to take it. — Beyonce

37.  A ship is always safe at shore, but that’s not what it’s built for.  — Albert Einstein

38. I’m tough, ambitious and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.  — Madonna

39. I’ve been called many things by many people. Quitter is not one of them. — Hilary Clinton

40. What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?   - John Green

41. Life is too short to waste your time on people who waste their time.  - Anonymous

42. Do what you have to do until you can do what you really want to do.   - Oprah Winfrey

43. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. -  Albert Einstein.

44.  The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. -  Alice Walker

45. You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination. - Roman Payne

46.  It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer. -  Theodore Roosevelt

47.  Without cunning, there is no innovation. Without ambition, there is no accomplishment. -  J.K. Rowling

48.  I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless. -  Neal Shusterman

49. It may be those who do most, dream most.” - Stephen Leacock

50. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. – Norman Vincent Peale