Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- This quote argues that failing to set high goals is worse than failing after trying, making low ambition a moral fault.
- In plain terms
- Having low goals is worse than failing after trying to achieve something great.
- What can you take from it?
- Aim high because low ambition is worse than failure.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is low ambition a crime?
- How high should you set your goals?
Another view
Sometimes low aims are practical due to real constraints.
More from James Russell Lowell
When I was a beggarly boy, And lived in a cellar damp, I had not a friend nor a toy, But I had Aladdin's lamp.
Permalink to quote #21 Though old the thought and oft expressed, 'Tis his at last who says it best.
Permalink to quote #23 It is by presence of mind in untried emergencies that the native metal of a man is tested.
Permalink to quote #20
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