93+ Best Ambition Quotes: Exclusive Selection

Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Inspirational ambition quotes will get you through anything when the going gets tough and help you succeed in every aspect of life.

If you’re searching for powerful encouraging quotes and inspiring keep going quotes that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of top purpose quotes, popular persistence quotes and inspiring miracle quotes.

Most Famous Ambition Quotes

A lot of people dream, and while they are busy dreaming, the powerful, engaged people? Are busy doing. Shonda Rhimes

Sometimes he wished he had no ambitions often wondered where they had come from in his life, because he remembered how satisfied he had been as a youngster, and that with the little he had a dog, a stick, an aloneness he loved.

I never dreamt of success. I worked for it. Estee Lauder

Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed.

Power is not given to you. You have to take it. Beyonce

I trod heaven in my thoughts, now exulting in my powers, now burning with the idea of their effects. From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. Henry David Thoreau

We found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves.

A ship is always safe at shore, but that’s not what it’s built for. Albert Einstein

It is not good to want a thing too much. It sometimes drives the luck away. You must want it just enough

Human behavior flows through three main sources: desire, emotion and knowledge. Plato

For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.

There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired. F. Scott Fitzgerald

I did have a definite goal. I was going to be a success in some field. I was going to make it to the top of some mountain. And once there, no one or nothing was ever going to dislodge me from the peak.

Start by starting. Meryl Streep

Being the best means engineering your life so you never stop until you get what you want, and then you keep going until you get what’s next. And then you go for even more.

Above all, be the heroine in your life. Not the victim. Nora Ephron

The pleasures connected with his work were pleasures of ambition; his social pleasures were those of vanity; but Ivan Ilych’s greatest pleasure was playing bridge.

I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. I’m going to figure out what that is. Emma Watson

In a scene where nobody with any ambition is really what he appears to be, there’s not much risk in acting like a king hell freak.

I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done. Lucille Ball

The better ambitions have to do with the development of character and ability, rather than status and power. Status you can lose. You carry character with you wherever you go, and it allows you to prevail against adversity.

The question isn’t who is going to let me. It’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

And suddenly she knew exactly why Catherine had fallen in love with him. It wasn’t that he was unusually attractive, or ambitious, or even charming. He was partly those things, but more important, he seemed to live life on his own terms

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we would go nowhere. Carl Sagan

Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status none of those were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest rein to their imaginations and ambitions.

You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you. Mary Tyler Moore

The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts.

Life continues to be fascinating. Maila Nurmi

For we pay a price for everything we get or take in this world; and although ambitions are well worth having, they are not to be cheaply won, but exact their dues of work and self denial, anxiety and discouragement.

The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for forever be able to do it. J.M. Barrie

The destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.

Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams? Tim Burton

Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals.

I don’t dream at night. I dream all day. I dream for a living. Steven Spielberg

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney

For a long time, Henry Bemis had had an ambition. to read a book. Not just the title or the preface, or a page somewhere in the middle. He wanted to read the whole thing, all the way through from beginning to end. A simple ambition perhaps, but in the cluttered life of Henry Bemis, an impossibility.

I’m tough, ambitious and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay. Madonna

When he’s finished giving himself a trim, he’ll want a broom to sweep it up. He’ll start sweeping. He might get carried away and sweep every room in the house. He may even end up washing the floors as well!

Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that’s the one that is going to help you grow Caroline Myss

Your parents, both strong in the world, both ambitious, and the Master of Jordan holding you in the balance between them.

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe you can become great too. Mark Twain

You see, your mother’s always been ambitious for power. At first she tried to get it in the normal way, through marriage, but that didn’t work, as I think you’ve heard. So she had to turn to the Church.

A dream without ambition is like a car without gas. You’re not going anymore. Sean Hampton

He is impressed when she tells him that her ambition is to be Professor of Greek at Oxford.

Be so good they can’t ignore you. Steve Martin

They became the closest possible friends. They told each other about their lives, their ambitions. They shared their deepest secrets with each other. The whale was very curious about life on land and was very sorry that he could never experience it. Amos was fascinated by the whale’s accounts of what went on deep under the sea.

Tis immortality to die aspiring. George Chapman

She was a bad, ambitious woman, and so as her husband and herself could arrive at greatness, she cared not much by what means.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. Barack Obama

But that’s what being poor does to you; it shortens your childhood. It hardens your ambition.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou

It was my ambition to stand on my head properly, and I’ve done it, so I needn’t have another one.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened of anyone’s perception of me. Angelina Jolie

Her great ambition was to own a laundry too not a hand affair likes mother’s, but a real steam one where she would walk about and tell dozens of girls in white overalls how to work.

Do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t matter, or like you don’t have a place in our American story  because you do. And you have a right to be exactly who you are. Michelle Obama

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the rally great make you believe that you too can be great. Mark Twain

I believe ambition is not a dirty word. It’s just believing in yourself and your abilities. Reese Witherspoon

Ambition is the great fire, it’s the liberator of the unconscious person. No goal, no growth; no clarity, no change. Brendon Burchard

You cannot live your life looking at yourself from someone else’s point of view. Penelope Cruz

Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them. Napoleon Bonaparte

Don’t ever lose hope. Even when life seems bleak and hopeless, know that you are not alone. Nancy Reagan

Ambition is beautiful. Marie Forleo

Opportunity does not knock.  It presents itself when you beat down the door. Kyle Chandler

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise. Maya Angelou

Confidence is attractive. Not arrogance, confidence. Be proud of who you are and the gifts you’ve been given to share with the rest of this world. Only you can be you, so go out there and bring the best of you that you have to offer. Laura Osnes

Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition. Ambition Quote

Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m possible. Audrey Hepburn

Ambition is the first step to success. The second step is action. Mel Robbins

You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it. Robin Williams

Ambition is more than mere desire. It is desire plus incentive determination will to achieve the desire. Herbert Armstrong

You know what’s really cool? Wake up every morning, decide what you feel like doing, and do it. Amanda Palmer

A person with average talent, ambition and education, can outstrip a genius in society, if that person has focused goals. Brian Tracy

The most effective way to do it is to do it. Amelia Earhart.

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions. Marcus Aurelius

With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas. Thought by thought. Choice by choice. Oprah Winfrey

Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. Bill Bradley

Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. Coco Chanel

The starting point of all achievement is desire. Napoleon Hill

You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide overthinking it. You have to go down the chute. Tina Fey

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. Oscar Wilde

Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it. Doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that  that is what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that’s really special and if you’re not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself. Amy Poehler

The difference between greed and ambition is that a greedy person desires things he isn’t prepared to work for. Habeeb Akande

I’ve been called many things by many people. Quitter is not one of them. Hilary Clinton

When your ambition is greater than your fear, your life will get bigger than your dream. Farshad Asl

You are not a definition. Be limitless. Be definitionless. Be a pain in the ass for whoever writes your obituary. Santino Fontana

The man who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed, you must have a larger ambition. John D. Rockefeller

We almost didn’t have a show. We made a pilot for another network and they rejected it. We sent the pilot to every other network in Hollywood and got six rejections in one day. There is a musical comedy on network TV and I can’t believe I’m saying that. Rachel Bloom

Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel. If the potential payoff is mediocre or average, so is your effort. Tim Ferriss

I get to do for a living what I did as a child for fun. It’s pretty cool. Alison Bechdel