Ambition, I have come to believe, is the most primal and sacred and fundament of our being. To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence.
Interpretation
Ambition is essential to our existence and should be pursued actively.
This quote emphasizes the profound importance of ambition as a core aspect of human nature. It suggests that recognizing and pursuing one's ambitions is essential for fulfillment and aligns with our true purpose, while neglecting them leads to self-betrayal and disengagement from our reason for living.
In practice
In a motivational seminar, to inspire attendees to pursue their goals.
Late at night have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn't write, a painter who doesn't paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is.
It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life.
The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.
When we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen... Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.
You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. At eighteen he took his inheritance, seven hundred kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study... Ever see one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement but I'll say it anyway: it was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
It’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot.
There is something about the ritual of the race - putting on the number, lining up, being timed - that brings out the best in us.
If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.
Putting on your crown is really like accepting the fact that you are a queen. You're a great woman. Wherever you are in life, just keep on that path, and so for me, sometimes as women, we forget - we forget that about ourselves. So, putting on your crown is sort of reminding yourself that, hey, I'm a queen, and I can do what I want in this life and take it.
How many 54-year-old quadriplegics are putting albums out? You just have to deal with what you got, try to sustain yourself as best you can, and look to the things that you can do.
I was brought up by two people who just said, Whatever it is you're interested in, go do it. There is no winning or losing. You find out when you do it what the experience is.
it's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.
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