Ten Quotes on Vision and Ambition

Vision and ambition. Two words with terminal sounds that rhyme nicely. The former "conceives" while the latter "achieves"; action words which, again, have a nice ring to them but therein ends their resonance (at least to me). The first one is decidedly "yang"--positive, upward-seeking. As for the other, well, ambition has an uplifting nature but it has an ugly side that is "yin"--consuming, ironically downward-seeking and, therefore, negative.

My recent posts in two of my other blogs contain elements of both. My brief post on Davos, where I traced the origin of what is now called the "World Economic Forum," (the 38th annual conference being attended by 27 heads of state, among others, is ongoing) is meant as a tribute to a single individual's strategic vision. On the other hand, my post on the shocking $7 billion loss announced recently by Societe Generale (SocGen) is meant as a slap on the wrist of a young rouge trader driven by overweening ambition to get ahead fast in the competitive world of banking.

The following quotes hopefully capture in elegant prose what my own thoughts are about vision and ambition:

On Vision

To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe... act! -Alfred A. Montapert

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Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision. -Ayn Rand

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The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going. -Anonymous

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Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. -Jonathan Swift

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Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. -Carl Jung

On Ambition

No one does anything from a single motive. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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Ambition can creep as well as soar. -Edmund Burke

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When ability exceeds ambition, or ambition exceeds ability, the likelihood of success is limited. -Ralph Half

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In order to be profoundly dishonest, a person must have one of two qualities: either he is unscrupulously ambitious, or he is unswervingly egocentric. -Maya Angelou

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Man's many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weigh him down. -Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

(Photo credits: Stockxpert.com)

Banking Jokes

MARTIN BOWEN, president of the Fort Worth First City National Bank, was seen standing in front of the automatic teller in the lobby one day while it performed a transaction rather slowly. After a brief wait, Bowen was heard to say, "Come on — it's me!"

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ONE day a young man came up to my window at the bank and whispered, "Please deposit this hundred dollars in my savings account." I handled the transaction and whispered back, "Have a good day." He started to leave but changed his mind. "I'm sorry we have to whisper," he said, "but if my car knows I've deposited money, it'll break down again." With his finger to his lips he tiptoed out.

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IT WAS the usual busy day at the bank where I work. After a glance at the line of waiting customers, a harried-looking man came up to the side counter and demanded, "What do I have to do to change the address on my account?" Without missing a beat, the clerk replied, "You have to move."

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WHILE waiting in line at the bank, a co-worker developed a very loud case of hiccups. By the time he reached the teller's window, the hiccups seemed to have worsened.The teller took my friend's check and proceeded to run a computer verification of his account. After a minute she looked up from her terminal with a frown and said that she would be unable to cash his check."Why not?" my friend asked incredulously."I'm sorry, sir," she replied, "but our computer indicates that you do not have sufficient funds to cover this amount. As a matter of fact," she continued, "our records show your account overdrawn in excess of $5000.""It can't be!" he cried. "You have to be kidding!""Yes, I am," she answered with a smile, counting out his cash. "But you will notice that your hiccups are gone."

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