--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Golf is an open exhibition of overweening…" description: "\"Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance.\" — Alistair Cooke" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg" --- # Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition… ![“Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance.” quote by Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg) > “Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance.” [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Golf illustrates how ambition can be undermined by foolishness and arrogance, revealing human flaws. **In simple terms:** Ambition meets folly and arrogance in sport. Key Takeaway Balance confidence with humility and continuous learning. Themes sport ambition humility arrogance Mood critical insightful Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - team sports - personal development - coaching - performance pressure Key Concepts psychology of competition human error Questions to Reflect On - How does arrogance affect performance? - What practices foster humility in competitive fields? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on ego can damage skill development. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Arrogance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrogance/) [Courage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courage/) [Exhibitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exhibitions/) [Golf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/golf/) [Skills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skills/) [Stupidity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stupidity/) ## Related quotes > [I am happy to exhibit, but not to put myself on exhibition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-happy-to-exhibit-but-not-to-put-myself-on-exhibition/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I believe in originality, primarily. However, it's important to know what there has been before to aim in that direction. Art history informs us.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-treacy/i-believe-in-originality-primarily-however-it-s-important-to-know/) [Philip Treacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-treacy/) > [It is a higher exhibition of Christian manliness to be able to bear trouble than to get rid of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/it-is-a-higher-exhibition-of-christian-manliness-to-be-able-to-bear/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [In 1966, while working on a feature about a Picasso exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, I recorded the pre-opening preparations and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/micha-bar-am/in-1966-while-working-on-a-feature-about-a-picasso-exhibition-at-the/) Micha Bar-Am > [I would not have been able to accomplish a lot of what I did professionally had I not learned to fly myself and owned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-palmer/i-would-not-have-been-able-to-accomplish-a-lot-of-what-i-did/) [Arnold Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-palmer/) > [My parents didn't agree with what was going on, you know, with the communists coming in, Fidel Castro. I didn't see the reason why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rafael-palmeiro/my-parents-didn-t-agree-with-what-was-going-on-you-know-with-the/) [Rafael Palmeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rafael-palmeiro/) > [I had my exhibition of paintings first in Shanghai, and then recently in Wuhan. Wuhan particularly interested me, because I am 1/8 Chinese.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-craig-martin/i-had-my-exhibition-of-paintings-first-in-shanghai-and-then-recently/) [Michael Craig-Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-craig-martin/) > [ Some years ago I was working on some forms which were vase forms with a fairly narrow base, and it was after \[Hans\] Coper… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-mackenzie/some-years-ago-i-was-working-on-some-forms-which-were-vase-forms-with/) [Warren MacKenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-mackenzie/) > [If your opponent is playing several shots in vain attempts to extricate himself from a bunker, do not stand near him and audibly count…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-vardon/if-your-opponent-is-playing-several-shots-in-vain-attempts-to/) [Harry Vardon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-vardon/) > [Once you grow accustomed to being famous, you do not realize it, but you are never quite your humble, honest self. No matter how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corra-may-harris/once-you-grow-accustomed-to-being-famous-you-do-not-realize-it-but/) [Corra May Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corra-may-harris/) > [While I was still going to embrace social media, I knew I had to do things that nobody else was doing. I decided I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-edward/while-i-was-still-going-to-embrace-social-media-i-knew-i-had-to-do/) [Mark Edward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-edward/) > [According to Jains the soul in pure form has infiniteness in terms of its knowledge and power. These faculties are obstructed for its exhibition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virchand-gandhi/according-to-jains-the-soul-in-pure-form-has-infiniteness-in-terms-of/) [Virchand Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virchand-gandhi/) > [My works are dear to me, each in its own way, I shall have to answer for them on the Day off Judgement. God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-chagall/my-works-are-dear-to-me-each-in-its-own-way-i-shall-have-to-answer/) [Marc Chagall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-chagall/) > [More than half the difficulties of the world would be allayed or removed by the exhibition of good temper.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-helps/more-than-half-the-difficulties-of-the-world-would-be-allayed-or/) [Arthur Helps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-helps/) > [When you're playing an exhibition, you're kind of letting everyone get an opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-gretzky/when-you-re-playing-an-exhibition-you-re-kind-of-letting-everyone-get/) [Wayne Gretzky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-gretzky/) ## More by Alistair Cooke > [It has always been cited as an irrepressible symptom of America's vitality that her people, in fair times and foul, believe in themselves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/it-has-always-been-cited-as-an-irrepressible-symptom-of-america-s/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [No myth dies harder, and none is more regularly debunked by the facts, than the one about international sports contributing to international friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/no-myth-dies-harder-and-none-is-more-regularly-debunked-by-the-facts/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [The emblem on the necktie reserved for the members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews - The Vatican of golf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/the-emblem-on-the-necktie-reserved-for-the-members-of-the-royal-and/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [If computers take over, it will serve us right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/if-computers-take-over-it-will-serve-us-right/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [ \[In 1889\] the last big tract of Indian land was declared open for settlement, in Oklahoma. The claimants and the speculators mounted their horses… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/in-1889-the-last-big-tract-of-indian-land-was-declared-open-for/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [“Every sport pretends to be literature. . .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/every-sport-pretends-to-be-literature/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [To watch an American on a beach, or crowding into a subway, or buying a theatre ticket, or sitting at home with his radio…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/to-watch-an-american-on-a-beach-or-crowding-into-a-subway-or-buying-a/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [To the goggling unbeliever Texans say, as people always say about their mangier dishes, 'But it's just like chicken, only tenderer.' Rattlesnake is, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/to-the-goggling-unbeliever-texans-say-as-people-always-say-about/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [I talk to my typewriter and that is what I've been working on for 40 years-how to write for talking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/i-talk-to-my-typewriter-and-that-is-what-i-ve-been-working-on-for-40/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [I hasten to say to snobs from the Surrey pine-and-sand country that no invention since the corn plaster or the electric toothbrush has brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/i-hasten-to-say-to-snobs-from-the-surrey-pine-and-sand-country-that/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn't particularly feel like it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/a-professional-is-a-person-who-can-do-his-best-at-a-time-when-he/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [Liberty is the luxury of self-discipline, that those nations historically who have failed to discipline themselves have had discipline imposed by others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/liberty-is-the-luxury-of-self-discipline-that-those-nations/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [The best thing about Eisenhower's Presidency was his Jeffersonian conviction that there should be as little government and as much golf as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/the-best-thing-about-eisenhower-s-presidency-was-his-jeffersonian/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [There is even - as with no other game - a fascinating detective literature, a wry commentary on the human comedy, implicit in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/there-is-even-as-with-no-other-game-a-fascinating-detective/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) > [It's an acting job - acting natural.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/it-s-an-acting-job-acting-natural/) [Alistair Cooke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) [Explore all 68 Alistair Cooke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/) ## More Ambition quotes > [Ambition drives you on, ability certainly helps, but the fickle finger of fate and luck are great things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fergus-henderson/ambition-drives-you-on-ability-certainly-helps-but-the-fickle-finger/) [Fergus Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fergus-henderson/) > [One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/one-needs-more-than-ambition-and-talent-to-make-a-success-of-anything/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-worth-is-no-greater-than-the-worth-of-his-ambitions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm hungry and ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julen-lopetegui/i-m-hungry-and-ambitious/) [Julen Lopetegui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julen-lopetegui/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [I was always attracted most to joining City, and I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edin-dzeko/i-was-always-attracted-most-to-joining-city-and-i-am-pleased-to-be-at/) [Edin Dzeko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edin-dzeko/) > [Work towards your goal and dont watch the post size,its either they hate,or like you.there is no room for both sides.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/work-towards-your-goal-and-dont-watch-the-post-size-its-either-they/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) > [“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-young-men-have-not-only-this-frivolous-ambition-of-being-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I almost never have a plan for myself... I'm not ambitious in that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-almost-never-have-a-plan-for-myself-i-m-not-ambitious-in-that-way/) [Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/) > [I play for high stakes and given an audience - there is no act too daring or too noble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-play-for-high-stakes-and-given-an-audience-there-is-no-act-too/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-nothing-worse-than-a-leader-who-lacks-ambition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoro/if-i-can-t-even-protect-my-captain-s-dream-then-whatever-ambition-i/) [Zoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoro/) > [It may seem unattainable but if you put actions, your heart and your mind into it, you will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-mond/it-may-seem-unattainable-but-if-you-put-actions-your-heart-and-your/) [London Mond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-mond/) > [Obligation is what's leading us to toward successful, and what keeps us moving towards the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wazim-shaw/obligation-is-what-s-leading-us-to-toward-successful-and-what-keeps/) [Wazim Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wazim-shaw/) [Browse all 4,601 Ambition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff of arrogance.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alistair Cooke" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweening-ambition-courage-deflated/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweening-ambition-courage-deflated/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bd/alistair-cooke-9876_ambition_golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweenin_3163351.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Golf is an open exhibition of overweening ambition, courage deflated by stupidity, skill soured by a whiff…” — Alistair Cooke", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alistair Cooke", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-cooke/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Golf is an open exhibition of...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweening-ambition-courage-deflated/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-cooke/golf-is-an-open-exhibition-of-overweening-ambition-courage-deflated/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```