A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires. - Henry Ward Beecher
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do. - Kahlil Gibran
Learn from me, if not by my precepts, then by my example, how dangerous is the pursuit of knowledge and how much happier is that man who believes his native town to be the world than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow. - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. For while in all other kinds of art it is possible to distinguish the matter from the form, and the understanding can always make this distinction, yet it is the constant effort of art to obliterate it. - Walter Pater
Walter Pater said that all the arts aspire to the condition of music, but I’ve always felt that music aspires to the condition of words. - John Ashbery
The true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds. - Frederick William Robertson
Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. - Samuel Jackson
Even a brick wants to be something.A brick wants to be something.It aspires. Even a common, ordinary brick... wants to be something more than it is.It wants to be something better than it is. - Louis Kahn
If a man aspires to a righteous life, his first act of abstinence if from injury to animals. - Leo Tolstoy