SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AMBITION

 

          SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AMBITION

Ambition is desire, aim, aspiration, goal, objective, hope, enterprise, dream, longing, etcetera. It is there with everybody. In fact, all of us must have some ambition according to our talents. Life cannot be purposeless. It cannot be void of some objective. But we must cut our coat according to our cloth.

Legitimate, realistic and adequate ambition is okay. What is faulty and unappreciable is over-ambitiousness. Unlimited ambition is like greed which is ignoble and even dangerous. It invites displeasure not only from rivals but also from people at large.

Over-ambitious people lose their physical and mental health and  poise.

William Shakespeare (English poet and dramatist,  1564-1616) says fling away ambition. By that sin angels fell. How then can man, the image of his Maker, hope to win by it?

According to the English writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ambition often puts men upon doing the meanest offices; so climbing is performed in the same posture as creeping.

Finally this quote by English dramatist Thomas Otway (1651-85}:”Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.”

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G.R.Kanwal

17 March 2024

 

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