Happy Independence Day America! All, enjoy your 4th of July weekend!

Driven to achieve.........

From the song 'Shoot For The Stars' by Natasha Bedingfield:

Whether I win, whether I lose,
I'd rather jump and fall,
Than never jump at all.
And I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do,
Not gonna taste it, I'm gonna chase it,
I'm gonna face whatever it takes,
I'm gonna be who I wanna be,
And nobody's going to stop me,
I'm free, free, free, free.

http://youtu.be/P5IYqsWU5lA

"Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more."
- John Lubbock, The Use Of Life

"Boys, be ambitious. Be ambitious not for money, not for selfish aggrandizement, not for the evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a man can be."
- William Clark

"I had no ambition to make a fortune. Mere money-making has never been my goal, I had an ambition to build."
- John D. Rockefeller

"I am ambitious. I set goals; not because I am ungrateful for what I have, but because I am happy with who I am. I enjoy the experience of rising above my perceived limitations and discovering new levels of my capabilities."
- Steve Maraboli

"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."
- Barack Obama

#MainMessageForToday
Too much ambition tends to lead to evil. Too little ambition is seen as too laid-back. Find the right balance.

From the song 'For the Love of Money' by The O'Jays
(The song's title comes from a well-known Bible verse, 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (King James Version).)

I know that money is the root of all evil
Do funny things to some people

Give me a nickel, brother can you spare a dime
Money can drive some people out of their minds

For the love of money
No good, no good, no good

For the love of money
Don't sell ya soul for the money - no, no

http://youtu.be/GXE_n2q08Yw

"The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise."
- Maya Angelou

"When ambition ends, happiness begins."
- Hungarian Proverb

"Happiness never made anyone rich or famous. That must be why ambitious people avoid it."
- Marty Rubin

"Accidents on big mountains happen when people's ambitions cloud their good judgment. Good climbing is about climbing with heart and with instinct, not ambition and pride."
- Bear Grylls

"He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain the ashes."
- Chinese proverb

"I don't have the type of ambition that will make me do anything at any cost to get what I want. I don't want to be beholden to people. I don't want to open a shop with your money because I don't want to be indebted to you."
"I'm your husband; it's our money."
"Morally, legally, maybe yes, but in here," she put a hand to her head "and here," she lay the flat of her hand over her heart, "it's your money. You earned it or were given it way before you met me.”
- Dorothy Koomson, The Woman He Loved Before

"I would rather be a little nobody, then to be a evil somebody."
- Abraham Lincoln

#MainMessageForToday
Don't have the type of ambition that turns evil. Have a conscience, think of others, and pursue true happiness.

From the song 'Reach For The Stars' by WILL.I.AM:

Why they say the sky is the limit,
When I've seen the footprints on the moon.
And I know the sky might be high,
But baby it ain't really that high.
And I know that mars might be far,
But baby it ain't really that far.
Let's reach for the stars.

Reach for the stars,
Let's reach for the stars.

http://youtu.be/XUUkN0Y4WH0

Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' Is a Warning Against the Dangers of Ambition
http://www.studymode.com/essays/Shakespeare%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98Macbeth%E2%80%99-Is-a-Warning-Against-837995.html

"It is the constant fault and inseparable evil quality of ambition, that it never looks behind it."
- Seneca

"Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end."
- Charles Caleb Colton

"Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied."
- Niccolo Machiavelli

"To want something desperately, to be tested, to feel that life will be impossible if the object of one's desires is not achieved, is always dangerous for the soul. Some people attempt to climb Everest because, as they say, it is there; others want nothing but wealth and care little how or where they collect it; others still, with less avaricious tastes - perhaps desiring nothing more than freedom from fear - are blinded by the same personal sun that shines on all human ambition. At some time or another it burns most of us."
- Bryan Forbes, International Velvet

"Ambition is a very dangerous thing because either you achieve it and your life ends prematurely, or you don't, in which case your life is a constant source of disappointment. You must never have ambition."
- Jeremy Clarkson

"So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased, when things go backward."
- Francis Bacon, 'Of Ambition', Essays

"Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue."
- Sallust, The War with Catiline

"It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheats, to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will."
- Sallust

#MainMessageForToday
Ambition has been known to turn men evil. Some men become false and also liars and cheats.

A situation where #ambition led to #dishonesty....

Song 'It Wasn't Me' by Shaggy:
https://youtu.be/dL11ZIUa5jU

"The difference between greed and ambition is a greedy person desires things he isn't prepared to work for."
- Habeeb Akande

"Ambition does not constitute a character flaw which leads to the dishonesty and dissatisfaction bemoaned by critics throughout the ages.  The results showed that under the model developed and tested, ambition does not make one miserable nor does it create feelings of unquenchable desires for outcomes beyond stretch goals.  Instead, ambition, an habitual level of striving for or desiring accomplishment in life situations associated with important human capital-related outcomes, correlates with educational attainment and educational prestige."
- From Ambition: An Important Character Trait And Predictor of Positive Life Outcomes by Dan DeFoe
http://www.psycholawlogy.com/2013/03/16/ambition-an-important-trait-and-predictor/

"Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition."
- Abraham Lincoln

"Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible."
- Eric Hoffer

"A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest."
- Pearl Bailey

"A man without ambition is like a beautiful worm--it can creep, but it cannot fly."
- Henry Ward Beecher, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit

"A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions."
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to."
- Kahlil Gibran

"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

#MainMessageForToday
A man's ambitions say a lot about him and his character.

Did you know? It is Caribbean American Heritage Month!
Look for songs by Caribbean artists all month.

Song 'House Call' by Shabba Ranks and Maxi Priest:
https://youtu.be/IwtAGWWC9y4

"Get going. Move forward. Aim High. Plan a takeoff. Don't just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here."
- Donald Trump

"There is no use whatsoever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb himself."
- Andrew Carnegie

"Ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go."
- James Cook

"It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the parent of all enterprise, and the cause of all improvement."
- Anthony Trollope

"A young man without ambition is an old man waiting to be."
- Steven Brust

"Ambition is not what man does... but what man would do."
- Robert Browning

"If a person holds no ambitions in this world, he suffers unknowingly. If a person holds ambitions, he suffers knowingly, but very slowly."
- Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams 

#MainMessageForToday
Every person want to achieve much, wants to win and therefore is ambitious. Ambition is usually at the root of great achievement.

From the song 'Want More' by Bob Marley:

Now you get what you want,
Do you want more?

You think it's the end,
But it's just the beginning.
Go down back-biter, down back-bite; down back-biter, down back-bite!
Down back-biter, down back-biter; down back-biter, down back-bite!

http://youtu.be/dK5MECKd5zI

"Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."
- Casey Kasem's signature sign-off of on his weekend radio show “American Top 40"


http://www.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_Keep_your_feet_on_the_ground_and_keep_reaching_for_the_stars

"There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality."
- Jonas Salk

"Even a brick wants to be something........It aspires. Even a common, ordinary brick wants to be something more than it is.....wants to be something better than it is."
- From movie Indecent Proposal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13g9tr4JBEs

"Ambition is enthusiasm with a purpose."
- Frank Tyger

"Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky."
- American Proverb

#MainMessageForToday
A man who wants to achieve his dreams or be the best at what he does has the ambition to succeed. Where there is ambition, there is motivation.

Theme for the week 6/28 - 7/4: #Ambition