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Quotes about motivation and goals

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Ambition, n. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence.
William Blake1757–1827Proverbs of Hell, Line 5
I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In England’s green & pleasant Land.
William Blake1757–1827And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time (c. 1808)In context
- Patriotism
Nature thrives on patience; man on impatience.
PBPaul Boese
- Nature
There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, Yes, I’ve got dreams, of course I’ve got dreams. Then they put the box away and bring it out once in awhile to look in it, and yep, they’re still there.
EBErma Bombeck1927–1996
Sometimes you need to feel the pain and sting of defeat to activate the real passion and purpose that God predestined inside of you.
Chadwick Boseman1976–2020Howard University Commencement Speech (2018)
- Failure
Sometimes you need to get knocked down before you can really figure out what your fight is and how you need to fight it.
Chadwick Boseman1976–2020Howard University Commencement Speech (2018)
- Failure
To hell with more. I want better.
Ray Bradbury1920–2012Beyond 1984: The People Machines (1979)
Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning1812–1889Andrea del Sarto (1855), Men and Women (1855), “Andrea del Sarto”, line 98.In context
What I aspired to be,
And was not, comforts me.
Robert Browning1812–1889Rabbi ben Ezra (1864), Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Rabbi Ben Ezra.In context
Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
William Jennings Bryan1860–1925“America’s Mission”, speech delivered by the leader of the Democratic Party at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association at Washington, D.C., (22 February 1899), as published in The Book of Public Speaking (Vol. 2)
He is able who thinks he is able.
Gautama Buddha501–501 BC
My ambition is handicapped by my laziness.
Charles Bukowski1920–1994Factotum (1975), Ch. 45, Manny
What men want is not talent, it is purpose,⁠—in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton1803–1873Lucretia (1846), Part II, Chapter XII
- Work
Well is it known that ambition can creep as well as soar.
Edmund Burke1729–1797Letters On a Regicide Peace (1796), No. 3