“Without ambition, no goal can be met.”

“What's the bigger risk: Taking the risk, or not taking the risk? What will you accomplish by not taking the risk? What will you accomplish by taking the risk, even if you fail?”

“Politically, the goal of today’s dominant trendis statism. Philosophically, the goal is theobliteration of reason;psychologically, it is theerosion of ambition.”

“An average person with average talent, ambition and education can outstrip the most brilliant genius in our society, if that person has clear, focused goals.”

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”

“Without cunning, there is no innovation. Without ambition, there is no accomplishment.”

“Ambition is a path, not a destination, and it is essentially the same path for everybody. No matter what the goal is, the path leads through Pilgrim’s Progress regions of motivation, hard work, persistence, stubbornness, and resilience under disappointment. Unconsidered, merely indulged, ambition becomes a vice; it can turn an man into a machine that knows nothing but how to run. Considered, it can be something else — pathway to the stars, maybe. I suspect that what makes hedonists so angry when they think about overachievers is that the overachievers, without benefit of drugs or orgies, have more fun.”