AMBITION
‘Ambition’ is defined as a strong desire to do or achieve
something. Some common synonyms of this word are: desire, aspiration, drive,
force, enterprise, eagerness, zeal, longing, yearning, purpose, wish, dream,
hope, etc.
Ambition is not a vice as some would like to call it. It is
rather a virtue. All of us are supposed to have a legitimate and well-deserved
ambition in life.
Without ambition we are idlers. We do not know what to do;
how to spend our time in a socially useful way.
However, one’s ambition should be according to one’s talents.
Miscalculated ambitions end in smoke.
They turn out to be undesirable dreams.
Roman historian Sallust 86-34 B.C. said : It is the nature of
ambition to make men liars and cheats who hide the truth in their hearts, and
like jugglers, show another thing in their mouths; to cut all friendships and
enmities to the measure of their interest, and put on a good face where there
is no corresponding good will.
The English poet-soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86) had this
to say: To be ambitious of true honour and of the real glory and perfection of
our nature is the very principle and incentive of virtue; but to be ambitious
of titles, place, ceremonial respects, and civil pageantry, is as vain and
little as the things are which we court.
An ambitious person should think about his capability before
aiming at any position or goal. To remember the proverb: “Cut your coat
according to your cloth” is a good guide.
Here
are some relevant quotes from the plays of the English poet-playwright William
Shakespeare (1564-1616):
*Dreams indeed are ambition, for the very substance of the
ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.---Hamlet, Act 2.
**Banish the canker of ambitious thoughts.---Henry VI, 2nd
Part, Act 1.
***Virtue is chok’d with foul ambition. ---Henry VI, 2nd
part, Act 3.
****As he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant,
I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his
love; joy for his fortune, honour for his valour; and death for his
ambition.----Julius Caesar, Act 3.
*****O! now, for ever
Farewell the tranquil
mind; farewell content!
Farewell the plumed troop
and the big wars
That make ambition virtue! -----Othello, Act 3.
To conclude, this famous quote by
Bill Bradley the former member of the United States Senate (Born 28 July 1943)
: Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
********
G.R.Kanwal
27 January 2025
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