William Gilmore Simms Quotes

Success tempts many to their ruin.

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

Ambition devours gold and drinks blood and climbs so high by other men's heads, that at the length in the fall, it breaks its own neck; therefore, it is better to live in humble content than in high care and trouble.

The desire of excessive power caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge caused men to fall.

Mad ambition trumpeteth to all

Hubris is interesting, because you get people who are often very clever, very powerful, have achieved great things, and then something goes wrong - they just don't know when to stop.

Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I'm just telling you, when you've got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That's rule No. 1 of business.

Arrogance is a weed which grows upon a dunghill; it is from the rankness of the soil that she has her height and spreadings: witness, clowns, fools, and fellows, who from nothing, are lifted up some few steps on fortune's ladder: where, seeing the glorious representment of honour above them, they are so eager to embrace it, that they strive to leap thither at once, and by over-reaching themselves in the way, they fail of the end, and fall.

I think it's dangerous to think that you're successful, because then you become complacent.

Nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon.

Even I admit I may have peaked too soon.

There is a danger that threatens everyone in the church, all of us. The danger of worldliness. It leads us to vanity, arrogance and pride.

It is by attempting to reach the top in a single leap that so much misery is produced in the world.

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

Such is human nature, in the gigantic intellect, the envious temper, the ravenous ambition, and the rotten heart of Daniel Webster.

He that plots to be the only figure among ciphers, is the decay of the whole age.

He who is content with a moderate victory is always most successful; for those who would more than conquer, commonly lose.

I have always resented the way the other sultans and emirs of my time have become too caught up in glory, pride and wealth

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

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.

My biggest problem is overconfidence.

Stupidity and human incompetence are the great evils, not ambition and glory.

The ministers of kings should learn to moderate their ambition. The higher they elevate themselves above their proper sphere, the greater the danger that they will fall.

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