Ambition

Friedrich Nietzsche said:

Either you reach a higher point today, or you exercise your strength in order to be able to climb higher tomorrow.

Now, it has been a while since I have encountered the name Machiavelli, but the next quote that struck me was by Machiavelli. So, I quickly consulted my friend, Wikipedia, to refresh my memory. I remembered that he wrote "the Prince", of course, but could not remember why it was so significant at the time. I was surprised to find out in my reading that earlier in his life, he was a prominent political figure and later in life, he mostly wrote. He wrote both fiction (even some comedy) and political related works (his attempt to remain in politics).
Anyway, to the point, Machiavelli rejected Christian principles of modesty and virtue. He believed in providence and even saw "ambition, spiritedness, and the pursuit of glory as good and natural things, and part of the virtue and prudence that good princes should have"
Amazingly, in reading, I discovered that a lot of the principles of government he advocated are still true today.
Thankful to the important people who have gone before that believed in ambition and spiritedness, because without them, we may not have the gratification of pursuing our ambitions freely.

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

- Niccolo Machiavelli

Oh, and keep on dreaming and working towards a higher goal.