AMBITION AND
SUCCESS
BY
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
Author of “Character,” “Cheerfulness,” etc.
NEW YORK
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1919, by
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I | What is Ambition? | 1 |
| II | The Satisfied Man | 7 |
| III | The Influence of Environment | 17 |
| IV | Unworthy Ambitions | 27 |
| V | Ambition Knows No Age Limit | 37 |
| VI | Make Your Life Count | 44 |
| VII | Visualize Yourself in a Better Position | 52 |
| VIII | Thwarted Ambition | 60 |
| IX | Why Don’t You Begin? | 68 |
“Ambition is the spur that makes man struggle withdestiny: it is heaven’s own incentive to make purposegreat, and achievement greater.”
In a factory where mariners’ compasses aremade, the needles, before they are magnetized,will lie in any position, wherever they areplaced, but from the moment they have beentouched by the mighty magnet and have beenelectrified, they are never again the same.They have taken on a mysterious power andare new creatures. Before they are magnetized,they do not answer the call of the NorthStar, the magnetic pole does not have any effectupon them, but the moment they have beenmagnetized they swing to the magnetic north,and are ever after loyal and true to their affinity.
[2]Multitudes of people, like an unmagnetizedneedle, lie motionless, unresponsive to anystimulus until they are touched by that mysteriousforce we call ambition.
Whence comes this overmastering impulsewhich pushes human beings on, each to his individualgoal? Where is the source of ambition,and how and when does it gain entranceinto our lives?
How few of us ever stop to think what ambitionreally means, its cause, or significa