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Virtue and Vice
479. Ambition; Discontent
"It [the pyramids] seems to have been erected only in
compliance with that hunger of imagination which preys
incessantly upon life, and must be always appeased by some
employment. Those who have already all that they can enjoy must
enlarge their desires. He that has built for use till use is
supplied, must begin to build for vanity, and extend his plan to
the utmost power of human performance, that he may not be soon
reduced to form another wish."
Johnson: Rasselas [Imlac]
Note: If you haven't read it yet, please read this note of caution regarding quotes from
Rasselas.
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480. Ambition; Vanity
"I consider this mighty structure [the pyramid] as a
monument to the insufficiency of human enjoyments. A king, whose
power is unlimited, and whose treasures surmount all real and
imaginary wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a
Pyramid, the satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures,
and to amuse the tediousness of declining life, by seeing
thousands laboring without end, and one stone, for no purpose,
laid upon another. Whoever thou art that, not content with a
moderate condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence,
and dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite of
novelty with perpetual gratifications, survey the Pyramids, and
confess thy folly."
Johnson: Rasselas [Imlac]
Note: If you haven't read it yet, please read this note of caution regarding quotes from
Rasselas.
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553. Ambition; Vanity
"The known shortness of life, as it ought to moderate our
passions, may likewise, with equal propriety, contract our
designs. There is not time for the most forcible genius, and
most active industry, to extend its effect beyond a certain
sphere. To project the conquest of the world is the madness of
mighty princes; to hope for excellence in every science has been
the folly of literary heroes: and both have found as last, that
they have panted for a height of eminence denied to humanity, and
have lost many opportunities of making themselves useful and
happy, by a vain ambition of obtaining a species of honour, which
the eternal laws of Providence have placed beyond the reach of
man."
Johnson: Rambler #17 (May 15, 1750)
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612. Ambition; Vanity; Vision
"The general error of those who possess powerful and elevated
understandings is, that they form schemes of too great extent,
and flatter themselves too hastily with success; they feel their
own force to be great, and, by the complacency with which every
man surveys himself, imagine it still greater: they therefore
look out for undertakings worthy of their abilities, and engage
in them with very little precaution; for they imagine that,
without premeditated measures, they shall be able to find
expedients in all difficulties. They are naturally apt to
consider all prudential maxims as below their regard, to treat
with contempt those securities and resources which others know
themselves obliged to provide, and disdain to accomplish their
purposes by established means and common gradations."
Johnson: Rambler #43 (August 14, 1750)
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674. Ambition; Effort; Wealth
"It is true ... that many have neglected opportunities of raising
themselves to honour and to wealth, and rejected the kindest
offers of fortune; but, however their moderation may be boasted
by themselves, or admired by such as only view them at a
distance, it will be, perhaps, seldom found that they value
riches less, but they dread labour or danger more than others;
they are unable to rouse themselves to action, to strain in the
race of competition, or to stand the shock of conquest; but
though they, therefore, decline the toil of climbing, they
nevertheless wish themselves aloft, and would willingly enjoy
what they dare not seize."
Johnson: Rambler #58 (October 6, 1750)
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944. Ambition; Extravagance
"The desires of man increase with his acquisitions; every step
which he advances brings something within his view, which he did
not see before, and which, as soon as he sees it, he begins to
want. Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are
we supplied with every thing that nature can demand, than we sit
down to contrive artificial appetites."
Johnson: Idler #30 (November 11, 1758)
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1,068. Ambition; Extravagance;
Satisfaction
"All the attainments possible in our present state are evidently
inadequate to our capacities of enjoyment; conquest serves no
purpose but that of kindling ambition, discovery has no effect
but of raising expectation; the gratification of one desire
encourages another; and after all our labours, studies, and
inquiries, we are continually at the same distance from the
contemplation of our schemes, have still some wish importunate to
be satisfied, and some faculty restless and turbulent for want of
its enjoyment."
Johnson: Rambler #103 (March 12, 1751)
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1,213. Ability; Ambition
"It is, I believe, a very just observation that men's ambition
is, generally, proportioned to their capacity. Providence seldom
sends any into the world with an inclination to attempt great
things, who have not abilities, likewise, to perform them."
Johnson: Boerhaave
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1,223. Ambition; Influence
"Whoever shall review his life will generally find, that the
whole tenor of his conduct has been determined by some accident
of no apparent moment, or by a combination of inconsiderable
circumstances, acting when his imagination was unoccupied, and
his judgment unsettled; and that his principles and actions have
taken their colour from some secret infusion, mingled without
design in the current of his ideas. The desires that predominate
in our hearts are instilled by imperceptible communications at
the time when we look upon the various scenes of the world, and
the different employments of men, with the neutrality of
inexperience; and we come forth from the nursery or the school,
invariably destined to the pursuit of great acquisitions or petty
accomplishments."
Johnson: Rambler #141 (July 23, 1751) [from a fictional
correspondent named Papilius]
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1,270. Ambition; Complacence;
Flattery
"The mischief of flattery is, not that it persuades any man that
he is what he is not, but that it suppresses the influence of
honest ambition, by raising an opinion that honour may be
gained without the toil of merit."
Johnson: Rambler #155 (September 10, 1751)
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1,276. Admiration; Ambition
"To be admired must be the constant aim of ambition."
Johnson: Rambler #157 (September 17, 1751)
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1,319. Ambition; Desire
"Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between
his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is
therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of
possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never
shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had
robbed him of part of his patrimony."
Johnson: Rambler #163 (October 8, 1751)
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1,324. Ambition; Vanity
"We seldom require more to the happiness of the present hour than
to surpass him that stands next before us."
Johnson: Rambler #164 (October 12, 1751)
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1,412. Ambition; Humanity
"The hostility perpetually exercised between one man and another,
is caused by the desire of many for that which only few can
possess. Every man would be rich, powerful, and famous; yet
fame, power, and riches, are only the names of relative
conditions, which imply the obscurity, dependence, and poverty of
greater numbers."
Johnson: Rambler #183 (December 17, 1751)
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1,552. Ambition; Vanity
"To think highly of ourselves in comparison with others, to
assume by our own authority that precedence which none is willing
to grant us, must be always invidious and offensive; but to rate
our powers high in proportion to things, and imagine ourselves
equal to great undertakings, while we leave others in possession
of the same abilities, cannot with equal justice provoke
censure."
Johnson: Adventurer #81 (August 14, 1753)
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1,553. Ambition; Success
"From torpid despondency, can come no advantage; it is the frost
of the soul, which binds up all its powers, and congeals life in
perpetual sterility. He that has no hopes of success, will make
no attempts; and where nothing is attempted, nothing can be
done."
Johnson: Adventurer #81 (August 14, 1753)
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1,554. Ambition
"Every man should, therefore, endeavour to maintain in himself, a
favourable opinion of the powers of the human mind; which are,
perhaps, in every man greater than they appear, and might, by
diligent cultivation, be exalted to a degree beyond what their
possessor presumes to believe. There is scarce any man but has
found himself able at the instigation of necessity, to do what in
a state of leisure and deliberation he would have concluded
impossible; and some of our species have signalized themselves by
such achievements, as prove that there are few things above human
hope."
Johnson: Adventurer #81 (August 14, 1753)
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1,579. Ambition; Pioneers;
Progress
"Those who have attempted much, have seldom failed to perform
more than those who never deviate from the common roads of
action: many valuable preparations of chymistry are supposed to
have risen from unsuccessful enquiries after the grand
elixir: it is, therefore, just to encourage those who
endeavour to enlarge the power of art, since they often
succeed beyond expectation; and when they fail, may sometimes
benefit the world even by their miscarriages."
Johnson: Adventurer #99 (October 16, 1753)
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1,596. Ambition; Life
"Life affords no higher pleasure, than that of surmounting
difficulties, passing from one step of success to another,
forming new wishes, and seeing them gratified. He that labours in
any great or laudable undertaking, has his fatigues first
supported by hope, and afterwards rewarded by joy; he is always
moving to a certain end, and when he has attained it, an end more
distant invites him to a new pursuit."
Johnson: Adventurer #111 (November 27, 1753)
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