Ambition has become a dirty word, and I believe it is a great evolutionary force for the positive. If people fail or go astray in their ambition I can live with it but not with people lowering their expectations, wasting time, slacking off and glorifying failure and stupidity.
Interpretation
Ambition is often mischaracterized negatively, but it is a vital positive force for personal growth and progress.
In this quote, Robert Greene highlights the necessity of ambition as a driving force for individual and societal progress. He suggests that while failure can be a natural part of pursuing ambition, the true issue lies in people who lower their aspirations and accept mediocrity instead of striving for improvement. Greene advocates for the recognition of ambition as a crucial element of evolution and achievement, warning against the glorification of failure and the avoidance of effort.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage people to embrace their ambitions.
In a society where the roles everyone plays are obvious, the refusal to conform to any standard will excite interest. Be both masculine and feminine, impudent and charming, subtle and outrageous. Let other people worry about being socially acceptable; those types are a dime a dozen, and you are after a power greater than they can imagine.
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.
The moment people feel they know what to expect from you, your spell on them is broken. More: You have ceded them power.
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.
The Nihilistic Troll might pretend to be acting in the service of some cause or leader, but don't be fooled. The cause and their supposedly strong convictions are simply a way to justify and provide cover for their abusive behavior.
Only create associations with positive affinities. Make this a rule of life and you will benefit more than from all the therapy in the world.
In addition to self-awareness, imagination and conscience, it is the fourth human endowment - independent will - that really makes effective self-management possible. It is the ability to make decisions and choices and to act in accordance with them. It is the ability to act rather than to be acted upon, to proactively carry out the program we have developed through the other three endowments. Empowerment comes from learning how to use this great endowment in the decisions we make every day.
Never, ever, ever think that your life is over, but know always that each day, each hour, each moment is another beginning, another opportunity, another chance to re-create yourself anew.
There is only a half step difference between the champions and those who finish on the bottom. And much of that half step is mental.
Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.
One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man's familiarity with the word 'impossible.
When I was 13, I told Henry Winkler I wanted to act. He said, Do it and don't let anyone stand in your way. His validation just made it all the more true. I haven't stopped thanking him since.
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