Ambition can creep as well as soar.

It is stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

Nothing leads so straight to futility as literary ambitions without systematic knowledge.

If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts prosecution.

Long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.

The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike at him as hard as you can and as often as you can, and keep moving on.

The heights by great men reached and kept Where not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.

Unsuccessful people make decisions based on current situations. Successful people make decisions based on where they want to be.

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.

Change, But start slowly, because direction is more important than speed.

Keep your attention focused entirely on what is truly your own concern, and be clear that what belongs to others is their business and none of yours.

The things are mighty few on earth That wishes can attain. Whate'er we want of any worth We've go to work to gain.

Waves are inspiring not because they rise and fall, but because each time they fall they never fail to rise again.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.

Love inspires, illumines, designates and leads the way.

I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

Either you run the day, or the day runs you.

Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.

The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best.

This is the law: The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

Dying is nothing. What is terrible is not to live.

A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

Plans will get you into things, but you have got to work your way out.

Can’t is the worst word that is written or spoken; Doing more harm here than slander and lies; On it is many a strong spirit broken, And with it many a good purpose dies.

Let us resolve to be masters, not victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.

But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consist in nothing more than in the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.