What likelihood is there of corrupting a man who has no ambition?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Ambition is not what man does... but what man would do.
He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.
Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.
He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.
A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive.
A man must fortify himself and understand that a wise man who yields to laziness or anger or passion or love of drink, or who commits any other action prompted by impulse and inopportune, will probably find his fault condoned; but if he stoops to greed, he will not be pardoned, but render himself odious as a combination of all vices at once.
Ambition is not in itself an evil; nor is he to be condemned whose spirit prompts him to seek fame by worthy and honourable ways.
A man may be a tough, concentrated, successful money-maker and never contribute to his country anything more than a horrible example.
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.
Men are more often bribed by their loyalties and ambitions than by money.