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"He so badly wanted to be a knight. I remember this boy well. When he looked at me his eyes filled with wonder as though I were a hero. Was he happy, I wonder? He died while pursuing his dream, but... I think it was my dream that killed him."
— Griffith, Berserk
"I reject my humanity, JoJo!"
— Dio Brando just before becoming a vampire, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood
Fan Works
"He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes."
Film — Animated
Hey, listen up, meathead!
I'm gonna say this once, and I'm not gonna repeat it.
Greed, see, it's like a little pet, alright,
And the more and more and more that you gonna feed it,
The more hungry it'll get!
But, y'know, you can't really blame greed — no, that's stupid,
You see, it's got a worm inside. Oh yeah, that's right.
That's one that always needs to feed, and
Is never satisfied! You get it?!
But the more you try to find it,
The more it likes to hide. Now listen!
That is a nasty little worm.
I like to call it Pride.
See, now that's why you're biggering! Listen here, idiot!
And figuring on biggering!
But, that biggering's...
Just triggering...
MORE biggering!
I'm gonna say this once, and I'm not gonna repeat it.
Greed, see, it's like a little pet, alright,
And the more and more and more that you gonna feed it,
The more hungry it'll get!
But, y'know, you can't really blame greed — no, that's stupid,
You see, it's got a worm inside. Oh yeah, that's right.
That's one that always needs to feed, and
Is never satisfied! You get it?!
But the more you try to find it,
The more it likes to hide. Now listen!
That is a nasty little worm.
I like to call it Pride.
See, now that's why you're biggering! Listen here, idiot!
And figuring on biggering!
But, that biggering's...
Just triggering...
MORE biggering!
— The Lorax to The Once-Ler, "Biggering", The Lorax (2012)
Film — Live-Action
Abraxas: Why? You had it all. An almost immortal lifespan. Virtually unlimited power!
Secundus: Almost? Virtually? It's not enough, when I can have it all! The key is the birth of a comater. The comater will be able to compute the Anti-Life Equation. That child will be a comater. Join me. To stop me now, you have to kill the girl. I know you, you can't do that.
Secundus: Almost? Virtually? It's not enough, when I can have it all! The key is the birth of a comater. The comater will be able to compute the Anti-Life Equation. That child will be a comater. Join me. To stop me now, you have to kill the girl. I know you, you can't do that.
Clark: You're looking for a political mess. Is that what they want?
Ritter: They want what every first term administration wants. A second term.
Ritter: They want what every first term administration wants. A second term.
"Your sin, Hercules, was that you had no ambition! I can deal with an ambitious man! He can be bought! But a man who wants nothing has no price!"
— King Eurystheus, Hercules (2014)
"Those who are bound by desire see only that which can be held in their hands."
— Leroy Green, The Last Dragon
Darth Vader: I expect you not to rest until you can assure the Emperor that Galen Erso has not compromised this weapon in any way.
Orson Krennic: So I'm still in command? You'll speak to the Emperor about— [gets Force-choked by Vader]
Darth Vader: Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director.
Orson Krennic: So I'm still in command? You'll speak to the Emperor about— [gets Force-choked by Vader]
Darth Vader: Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Director.
"I think for the most part people are good to start with. I think evil is somethin' you bring on your own self. Mostly from wantin' what you ain't supposed to have."
— Black, The Sunset Limited
Literature
"Elaine was ambitious in the old-school sense. I mean "ambitious" as the word is used in Julius Caesar. Not merely eager to get ahead in the world, but avidly steamrolling competitors, allies, bystanders, and stray puppies in order to wield power. Elaine might look like an eighteen-year-old with a fifty-year-old's haircut, but on a scale of one to ten, where one was a doorknob and ten was a great white shark, Elaine would use the doorknob to beat the shark to death. I had no idea how she'd made Diamond's acquaintance, but she'd do it in a heartbeat if it gave her any advantage."
"Whatever quality of human greatness I have the talent to portray — that was the quality the outer world sought to degrade. They let me play nothing but symbols of depravity, nothing but harlots, dissipation-chasers and home-wreckers, always to be beaten at the end by the little girl next door, personifying the virtue of mediocrity."
— Kay Ludlow, Atlas Shrugged
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing."
— James 3:16, The Bible (New American Standard Version)
"Malcanthet wanted power and comfort, so she built Shendilavri and named her clan the succubi. For years, free love and peace reigned, but as time wore on, the Whore began to desire power more than comfort..."
"Farewell, Walton! Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries. Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed."
— Victor Frankenstein's last words
, Frankenstein
, Frankenstein"He will not stop. He cannot stop. If his ambition was of a kind which could be checked by any form of caution, he would never have achieved his high seat. He does not know fear, I think; even when he should."
— Captain Laurence on Napoleon's conquest of Europe, League of Dragons
Beatriz: Is that count not the same who, after having obtained from the noble Queen Doña María the town of Monforte in Galicia, abandoned her banners to join those of the Infante Don Juan?
Don Alonso: The same. And what do you have to say about him?
Beatriz: That it is impossible for my father to give me as husband a man whom I could neither love nor even respect.
Don Alonso: My daughter, in times of civil strife, it is not easy to walk without falling, because the road is full of obstacles and pitfalls.
Beatriz: Yes, the path of ambition is strewn with difficulties and stumbling blocks, but the path of honour and chivalry is as smooth and gentle as a meadow. The Count of Lemos is certainly powerful, but although I know of many who fear and hate him, I have not yet heard of one who loves and esteems him.
Don Alonso: The same. And what do you have to say about him?
Beatriz: That it is impossible for my father to give me as husband a man whom I could neither love nor even respect.
Don Alonso: My daughter, in times of civil strife, it is not easy to walk without falling, because the road is full of obstacles and pitfalls.
Beatriz: Yes, the path of ambition is strewn with difficulties and stumbling blocks, but the path of honour and chivalry is as smooth and gentle as a meadow. The Count of Lemos is certainly powerful, but although I know of many who fear and hate him, I have not yet heard of one who loves and esteems him.
"A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn't suspect, in the least, that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great and he hoped to make himself master of all the Land of Oz, and that he might compel everyone in that fairy country to obey him. His ambition blinded him to the rights of others and he imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else happened to be as clever as himself."
"Although the soldiers held Crassus to blame for all their ills, still they yearned to see his face and hear his voice. But he was lying on the ground by himself, enveloped in darkness, to the multitude an illustration of the ways of fortune, but to the wise an example of foolish ambition, which would not let him rest satisfied to be first and greatest among many myriads of men, but made him think, because he was judged inferior to two men only, that he lacked everything."
— Plutarch, Parallel Lives: The Life of Crassus
Listen: this story's one you ought to know,
You'll reap the consequence of what you sow.
This fleeting world is not the world where we
Are destined to abide eternally:
And for the sake of an unworthy throne
You let the devil claim you for his own.
I've few days left here, I've no heart for war,
I cannot strive and struggle any more,
But hear an old man's words: the heart that's freed
From gnawing passion and ambitious greed
Looks on kings' treasures and the dust as one;
The man who sells his brother, as you've done,
For this same worthless dust, will never be
Regarded as a child of purity.
The world has seen so many men like you,
And laid them low: there's nothing you can do
But turn to God; take thought then for the way
You travel, since it leads to Judgment Day.
You'll reap the consequence of what you sow.
This fleeting world is not the world where we
Are destined to abide eternally:
And for the sake of an unworthy throne
You let the devil claim you for his own.
I've few days left here, I've no heart for war,
I cannot strive and struggle any more,
But hear an old man's words: the heart that's freed
From gnawing passion and ambitious greed
Looks on kings' treasures and the dust as one;
The man who sells his brother, as you've done,
For this same worthless dust, will never be
Regarded as a child of purity.
The world has seen so many men like you,
And laid them low: there's nothing you can do
But turn to God; take thought then for the way
You travel, since it leads to Judgment Day.
— Ferdowsi, The Shahnameh
Live-Action TV
Annie: Does anyone ever choose Slytherin?
George: No, because that would be like saying 'I'm a sociopath.'
George: No, because that would be like saying 'I'm a sociopath.'
"Jesse, you asked me if I was in the meth business or the money business. Neither. I'm in the empire business."
— Walter White, Breaking Bad
"There is a passion in the human heart that is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition — by which sin the angels fell."
"The Anomalies are unstoppable now, and in the future, money will not mean very much. But knowledge and power will, and I intend to be very, very powerful!"
"Superior ability breeds superior ambition."
— Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series, "Space Seed"
Music
"The role of the king is a lonely one to play
The cards in the ring have been dealt in the wrong way
The role of the king is a lonely one to play
No matter the lives of the people before me
All that I seek is the path to glory, glory"
The cards in the ring have been dealt in the wrong way
The role of the king is a lonely one to play
No matter the lives of the people before me
All that I seek is the path to glory, glory"
—CG5, "Lonely King"
"We glorify lust, greed & pain
We drown our hope in poison rain
We point the finger, shift the blame
Ambition makes us whores"
We drown our hope in poison rain
We point the finger, shift the blame
Ambition makes us whores"
— Motörhead, "March Ör Die"
"Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking, squealing Gucci little piggy"
Kicking, squealing Gucci little piggy"
— Radiohead, '"Paranoid Android"
"Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything"
And a king ain't satisfied till he rules everything"
— Bruce Springsteen, "Badlands"
Stand-Up Comedy
"Motivation is bullshit; if you ask me this country could use a little less motivation. The people who are motivated are the ones who are causing all the trouble! Stock swindlers, serial killers, child molesters, Christian conservatives? These people are highly motivated, highly motivated. I think motivation is overrated. You show me some lazy prick who's lying around all day watching game shows and stroking his penis and I'll show you someone who's not causing any fucking trouble, OK?"
— George Carlin, "Complains & Grievances"
Tabletop Games
"Harpies don’t just wield power, they're consumed by it. They use power to acquire more power, to flaunt their status before their peers, and for no other reason.
Harpies constantly push for more control, they push people around them to cross their boundaries. Each line crossed is another rung on the endless ladder, proof that she can make people dance to her tune."
Harpies constantly push for more control, they push people around them to cross their boundaries. Each line crossed is another rung on the endless ladder, proof that she can make people dance to her tune."
— Hunter: The Vigil: Slasher (fan-made content)
)"As the mind to the body so the soul to the spirit, as death to the mortal man so failure to the immortal, such is the price of all ambition."
Video Games
"A King holds absolute power over his people. He is not meant to serve... He is to be served! To command! To possess! To enjoy! That is the privilege of royalty! And it shall all be mine!"
— Wasp King, Bug Fables
"Refusing enrollment in the fall, you took up in that mouldering brownstone where I joined you in a vain attempt to assuage your aspirations. Now free from academic oversight and moral restraint, you vowed you reach into the blackest depths of the occult sciences and be the first to grasp the secret of the Iron Crown. The polarity between us reversed-I became your reluctant assistant in dozens of deplorable experiments... crush in the grip of your ambition."
— The Academic, Darkest Dungeon II, Chapter IV: Ambition
"I knew you weren't normal, but to have such an ambition at such a young age... It's no wonder you fell to Hades. Hmhmhm..."
— Valvatorez, about Fuka Kazamatsuri, Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
"Dreams are a wonderful thing, yes? Dreams give you hope, and hope gives you the power to live. But sometimes, dreams can be making you greedy... That creature... He was consumed by his dreams — by his greed."
— Madame Luca, about Mortamor and the negative elements of dreams, Dragon Quest VI
"Alduin wahlaan daanii (caused his (own) doom). His doom was written when he claimed for himself the lordship that properly belongs to Bormahu — our father Akatosh."
— Paarthurnax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
"A Nohrian soldier who is hungry for advancement and short on ethics."
— Description of Hans, Fire Emblem Fates
"How disappointing. This world should be shrouded in darkness, not bathed in insufferable light. All these weak, peace loving cowards running rampant. It would have been more...satisfying to overcome a worthy foe. Regardless... I will reshape this world as it was meant to be. I will crush any opposition. I will rule. That is what a king must do."
"You want to know why none would call you king? It was your eyes, Zant. All saw it, a lust for power burning in your pupils... Did you think we'd forget our ancestors lost their king to such greed?"
— Midna to Zant, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Gafka: Before we headed to Alistel, I had my assumptions about its leader. I knew Hugo had his own motives, but I never imagined they would stretch outside the human lands. But after hearing him speak, I changed my way of thinking.
Stocke: And?
Gafka: I now see him as someone blinded by his own ambitions. He cannot see anything else. To him human lives are like pebbles. He kicks them around and doesn't even notice. He'll put the entire world in jeopardy without realizing it. He must be stopped.
Stocke: And?
Gafka: I now see him as someone blinded by his own ambitions. He cannot see anything else. To him human lives are like pebbles. He kicks them around and doesn't even notice. He'll put the entire world in jeopardy without realizing it. He must be stopped.
Visual Novels
Ryunosuke Narudhodo: Mael Stronghart... ...you colluded with Seishiro Jigoku in a criminal plot so immense, it spanned the oceans. And you cold-heartedly murdered all those who knew the truth about what happened ten years ago. But why did you set about that now, a whole decade later?
Mael Stronghart: ......... To ascend to the very peak.
Ryunosuke: ...!
Stronghart: These last ten years made me realise: Being the Lord Chief Justice wasn't enough. Short of becoming Her Majesty's Attorney General... ...I could have no real power to effect the changes needed in this country. And for that promotion... I needed to ensure no 'remnants' of the past remained.
Kazuma Asogi: How could you...?
Stronghart: I like everything to run smoothly, in the exact manner that I prescribe. Like a well-oiled machine. And I was just a step away...
Barok van Zieks: And for your ambition to succeed... ...did you even bother to count the number of brilliant people you had killed?!
Mael Stronghart: ......... To ascend to the very peak.
Ryunosuke: ...!
Stronghart: These last ten years made me realise: Being the Lord Chief Justice wasn't enough. Short of becoming Her Majesty's Attorney General... ...I could have no real power to effect the changes needed in this country. And for that promotion... I needed to ensure no 'remnants' of the past remained.
Kazuma Asogi: How could you...?
Stronghart: I like everything to run smoothly, in the exact manner that I prescribe. Like a well-oiled machine. And I was just a step away...
Barok van Zieks: And for your ambition to succeed... ...did you even bother to count the number of brilliant people you had killed?!
— The Great Ace Attorney: Resolve, Case G2-5: "The Resolve of Ryunosuke Naruhodo"
Web Animation
"I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful."
— Cinder Fall, RWBY
Webcomics
Incubus: We're gonna win, I can feel it.
Allison: I don't want to win, I just want to survive.
Incubus: Haha, wow, that's rich... It's only about winning.
Allison: I don't want to win, I just want to survive.
Incubus: Haha, wow, that's rich... It's only about winning.
Western Animation
"What is evil more than wanting something so much, you'll do anything... hurt anyone to get it!"
— Fire Lord, Hero Factory
Paulie: Fergy! What's gotten into you?!
Fergy: AMBITION, lambchop! Oh! I've tasted power, AND I LIKE WHAT I'M GNASHING!!!
Fergy: AMBITION, lambchop! Oh! I've tasted power, AND I LIKE WHAT I'M GNASHING!!!
— Viva Piñata, "To Catch a Pinata"
Real Life
"Ambition can creep as well as soar."
— Edmund Burke
"The thing is, it's the desire <for power> itself that's poisonous. You find that need for power most in the type of person who hates having to obey all of society's social contracts, particularly the ones that require them to not act like cocks all day. These are the people who are only nice guys because of fear of retribution if they do otherwise, so their main goal is to become strong enough that no retribution is possible (this is why sociopaths tend to seek positions of power, by the way).
So it's not just that power will destroy you. It's that the urge itself is bad news. That desire for power is a vicious, ravenous animal and feeding it only makes it strong enough to tear its way out of your belly and go on a bloody rampage."
So it's not just that power will destroy you. It's that the urge itself is bad news. That desire for power is a vicious, ravenous animal and feeding it only makes it strong enough to tear its way out of your belly and go on a bloody rampage."
"That such a man could go so forward toward realizing his ambitions, and — above all — could find millions of willing tools and helpers; that is a phenomenon the world will ponder for years to come."
— Konrad Heiden, in the introduction to Mein Kampf
"He's a highly talented guy. He does very good movies and he's not the sort of person who always talks bullshit. He does many, many things right. But he's also sick. Obsessed. He wants to make history, not movies. Anyone who wants to make history is stupid."
— Klaus Kinski on director Werner Herzog
"There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency."
— Laozi
"Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinction in adding story to story upon the monuments of fame erected to the memory of others. It denies that it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen."
