I mean a man whose hopes and aims may sometimes lie (as most men’s sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all if it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is of the kind I care for. Charles Dickens, Bleak House
How difficult the task to quench the fire and the pride of private ambition, and to sacrifice ourselves and all our hopes and expectations to the public weal! How few have souls capable of so noble an undertaking! Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams 10 July 1775
It will not be amiss to distinguish the three kinds and, as it were, grades of ambition in mankind. The first is of those who desire to extend their own power in their native country, a vulgar and degenerate kind. The second is of those who labor to extend the power and dominion of their country among men. This certainly has more dignity, though not less covetousness. But if a man endeavor to establish and extend the power and dominion of the human race itself over the universe, his ambition (if ambition it can be called) is without doubt both a more wholesome and a more noble thing than the other two. Francis Bacon, Novum Organum I:28
Ambition is a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the original of vices, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines into maladies, and remedies into diseases. Thomas Brooks, cited Josiah Hotchkiss
As fall the dews on quenchless sands,
Blood only serves to wash Ambition’s hands! Lord Byron, Don Juan IX:59
From my youth upwards
My Spirit walked not with the souls of men,
Nor looked upon the earth with human eyes;
The thirst of their ambition was not mine,
The aim of their existence was not mine;
My joys – my griefs – my passions – and my powers,
Made me a stranger; though I wore the form,
I had no sympathy with breathing flesh. Lord Byron, Manfred in Manfred II ii 50-58
Ambition, Interest, Pride without control,
And Jealousy, the jaundice of the soul;
Revenge, the bloody minister of ill,
With all the lean tormentors of the will. John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther
Ambition fortifies the will of man to become ruler over other men: it operates with deception, cajolery, and violence, it is the action of impurity upon impurity. T S Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral, 1935
Where ambition can be so happy as to cover its enterprises, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of all human passions. David Hume, The History of England I iv
Ambition, like a torrent, ne’er looks back;
And is a swelling, and the last affection
A high mind can put off; being both a rebel
Unto the soul and reason, and enforceth
All laws, all conscience, treads upon religion,
And offereth violence to nature’s self. Ben Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy III ii
Reason can no longer restrain one who is lured by the fury of ambition. Karl Marx
If any man stopped and asked himself whether he’s ever held a truly personal desire, he’d find the answer. He’d see that all his wishes, his efforts, his dreams, his ambitions are motivated by other men. He’s not even struggling for material wealth, but for the second-hander’s delusion – prestige. A stamp of approval, not his own. He can find no joy in the struggle and no joy when he has succeeded. He can’t say about a single thing: this is what I wanted because I wanted it, not because it made my neighbors gape at me. Then he wonders why he’s unhappy. Ayn Rand
Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind. John Webster, The Devil’s Law Case, 1623
Ambition, Madam, is a great man’s madness,
That is not kept in chains, and close-pent rooms,
But in fair lightsome lodgings, and is girt
With the wild noise of prattling visitants,
Which makes it lunatic, beyond all curse. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
But what will not ambition and revenge
Descend to? who aspires must down as low
As high he soar’d, obnoxious first or last
To basest things. John Milton, Paradise Lost IX:168
I’m hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure. George W Bush, interview Associated Press January 2001
The Kennedys: America’s unofficial royal family. For a century they’ve dazzled the world with their glamour and charisma and wealth. But the crown has been a heavy one to bear, with successive generations suffering heartbreak and loss. The Kennedys: A Fatal Ambition I, Channel 5 2018
July 16th 1999: a plane carrying 38 year old John F Kennedy junior, his wife and sister in law takes off from New Jersey and then disappears from radar. ibid.
The family’s Catholic roots were laid down in Boston, Massachusetts. ibid.
At age 20, Joe Kennedy won a place at Havard University. ibid.
With his own political prospects in tatters, Joe Kennedy headed back home and transferred all his grand ambitions to his eldest son; he was determined at Joe junior would become the future president of the United States. ibid.
Without Rose’s approval, he [Joe] paid doctors to perform a new type of brain surgery on their 23 year old daughter. In November 1941 she underwent a pre-frontal lobotomy. But that operation was mishandled. ibid.
For saving most of his crew, Jack Kennedy was awarded a purple heart for gallantry. ibid.
Joe Kennedy junior died instantly in this explosion caused by a suspected electrical fault. Joe junior’s body was never found. ibid.
They looked to his brother Jack to fulfil his ambitions. ibid.
Like his father before him, Jack Kennedy had become a serial adulterer. ibid.
It was a new and hopeful generation that swept them into office. ibid.
‘Everyone connected to me seems jinxed.’ ibid. Bobby
Bobby Kennedy had served his late brother as America’s Attorney General. Even before the assassination, the stain of disasters affecting the family had haunted him. The Kennedys: A Fatal Ambition II
The plane hit dense fog. Both the pilot and [Teddy] Kennedy’s aide Edward Moss were killed. The three others on board survived although Kennedy himself suffered a fractured spine, punctured lung and internal bleeding. ibid.
Around 26 hours later, he [Bobby] died in hospital as a result of his wounds. ibid.
In 1969 Ted Kennedy’s personal problems would lead to a very public fall from grace … The so-called Chappaquiddick incident created world headlines. ibid.
She [Joan] later suffered a miscarriage, blaming it on the stress of Chappaquiddick. ibid.
A new series of challenges would threaten to damage the Kennedy name beyond repair. ibid.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy … son of Bobby … ‘he crashed the car’ … Pamela was paralysed in the accident and would never walk again. ibid.
David Kennedy found dead in Florida hotel. ibid. The Boston Globe headline 26th April 1984
A fresh scandal involving William Kennedy Smith, son of JFK’s sister Jean … ‘the prime suspect in an alleged rape’ … Despite the defendant walking free, the case would leave a lasting mark on the family name. ibid.
Michael Kennedy dies in skiing accident. ibid. The Boston Globe headline 1 January 1998
John-John [John F Kennedy junior] had captured the nation’s hearts … ‘JFK Jr His Wife Feared Dead’ [Los Angeles Times] … An hour later the plane crashed nose-first into the Atlantic ocean. ibid.
Six family members had died prematurely. Whilst a string of others had been linked with tragedy and scandals. ibid.
Billy Monger started racing at the age of 6. By 10 he was British champion. But at the age of 17 everything changed. April 2017: ‘You wake up, your legs aren’t there any more.’ Driven: The Billy Monger Story, BBC 2018
‘I fight to race again.’ ibid.