Margaret MacMillan Quotes

Success tempts many to their ruin.

What enables us to achieve our greatness contains the seeds of our destruction.

Ego is certainly there in many of the greatest and most dizzying tales of success - but it's there in some of the greatest stories of failure and self-implosion as well.

We've seen a lot of people self-destruct because of a small taste of success.

Sometimes, you can get too big when you feel too good.

The biggest victories can lead to the greatest foolishness.

Who soars too near the sun, with golden wings, melts them.

And he that strives to touch the stars, Oft stumbles at a straw.

Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That's not a guess, it's a guarantee. With pride, it's not a matter of 'if' we will fall, but 'when.' There are no exceptions.

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

Nothing fails like success.

In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based upon past success.

Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.

Success can set the table for tragedy if the victors are not careful.

The greatest enemy a man can have is his prosperity.

Success can breed all kinds of other behavior and cause companies to behave a certain way that isn't necessarily the ingredients for achieving more success. For instance, with success comes arrogance, and that's typically the death of success.

When I'm considering an idea, and there is an element of hubris involved, I generally feel comfortable that it's going to be a good story. Pride goeth before a fall. It's an element of a lot of big stories.

The minute you start believing your own success, you're on the road to ruin.

I was an arrogant man. I not only thought I could manage my life without help, I wanted it that way. I had best-selling books and a TV show and movie contracts; I felt invincible, secure in the thought that everything was my doing. And then, like all arrogant men, I came to stumble.

I got ideas above my station, and I made mistakes.

The ambition and focus that propel you to success can also be your downfall.

I've seen guys who had the craziest amount of talent growing up and let that hype and whatnot and the money go to their head.

When you are too confident, that's when you hurt yourself.

Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence.

I'm keenly aware of the Pride coming before the Fall . . . but I really do like what I've been able to do here.