"Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit."

Ambition

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Ambition as articulated by Benjamin Disraeli. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Ambition provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was a British statesman, Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation of the modern Conservative Party, defining its policies and its broad outreach. Disraeli is remembered for his influential voice in world affairs, his political battles with the Liberal Party leader William Ewart Gladstone, and his one-nation conservatism or "Tory democracy". He made the Conservatives the party most identified with the British Empire and military action to expand it, both of which were popular among British voters. He is the only British prime minister to have been born into a Jewish family.

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More by Benjamin Disraeli

"The secret of success is constancy to purpose."

— Benjamin Disraeli
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"Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man."

— Benjamin Disraeli
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"There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour."

— Benjamin Disraeli
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"Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action."

— Benjamin Disraeli
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More about Ambition

"I was all-state in four sports in New Jersey, but sometimes I couldn't get served at a restaurant two blocks from my high school. There were no job opportunities then... the only thing a black youth could aspire to be was a bellboy or a pullman or an elevator operator, or, maybe, a teacher. There was a time when all we had was black baseball."

— Monte Irvin
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"The spark of ambition becomes a blaze of accomplishment only through disciplined persistence. Remember this in moments of decisive trial."

— Socrates
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"All sins have their origin in a sense of inferiority otherwise called ambition."

— Cesare Pavese
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"In the summer of 1952, when I was 30, the Army assigned me to an infantry unit fighting in Korea. Meanwhile, though, there was other news in my family: My father had become the Republican presidential nominee. As an ambitious young major, I refused any offers for other assignments."

— John Eisenhower
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