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Quotes about motivation and goals

230 quotes from 178 people

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Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young (1894)
- Failure
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)
To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.
Confucius551–479 BCAnalects, Chapter VI, § 6.20
- Virtue
The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the censures.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882English Traits (1856)
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.
Abraham Maslow1908–1970“A Theory of Human Motivation”, in Psychological Review, vol. 50, no. 4 (1943), p. 382
If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936What’s Wrong With The World (1910)
Ambition is the death of thought.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Culture and Value (1980), p. 77e
- Thinking
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
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
John Milton1608–1674Paradise Lost (1667), i.262-263In context
- Power
To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers (1881), El Dorado.
- Success
As is our confidence, so is our capacity.
William Hazlitt1778–1830Characteristics, in the manner of Rochefoucauld’s Maxims (1823), No. 89
There is no such thing as a lazy person; he is either sick or uninspired.
Zig Ziglar1926–2012See You at the Top (2000)
Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune:
Every success depends upon focusing the heart.
Rumi1207–1273Masnavi, Book III, 2302-5 (tr. Helminski, 1996)
- Success
Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.
Gillian Andersonborn 1968Excerpt from the foreword in Girl Boss: Running the Show Like the Big Chicks, by Stacy Kravetz (1999)
- Fear
They can because they think they can.
Virgil70–19 BCAeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 231 (tr. John Conington)