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Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.
Oscar Wilde
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Ambition can often mask a lack of true achievement, representing a fallback for those who do not succeed.

In this quote, Oscar Wilde suggests that ambition, while often seen as a positive trait, can also be a misguided refuge for those who fail to accomplish their goals. It implies that simply having ambition is not enough; true success is measured by actual achievements rather than mere desires or aspirations.

Themes

AmbitionFailureSuccessAchievementGoals

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to encourage students to achieve their goals.

More from Oscar Wilde

Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
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London is too full of fogs and serious people. Whether the fogs produce the serious people, or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know.
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When one has never heard a man's name in the course of one's life, it speaks volumes for him; he must be quite respectable.
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Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.
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A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
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His morality is all sympathy, just what morality should be
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