--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: to cheat your way into a job bigger than…" description: "\"“to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear-corroded ape on borrowed motions and borrowed time, and to settle do..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg" --- # to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can… ![“to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear-corroded ape on borrowed motions and borrowed time, and to settle down into a job that requires less than your mind’s full capacity is to cut your motor and sentence yourself to another kind of motion: decay - that…” quote by Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg) > ““to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear-corroded ape on borrowed motions and borrowed time, and to settle down into a job that requires less than your mind’s full capacity is to cut your motor and sentence yourself to another kind of motion: decay - that your work is the process of achieving your values, and to lose your ambition for values is to lose your ambition to live - that your body is a machine, but your mind is its driver, and you must drive as far as your mind will take you, with achievement as the goal of your road - that the man who has no purpose is a machine that coasts downhill at the mercy of any boulder to crash in the first chance ditch, that the man who stifles his mind is a stalled machine slowly going to rust, that the man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap, and the man who makes another man his goal is a hitchhiker no driver should ever pick up - that your work is the purpose of your life, and you must speed past any killer who assumes the right to stop you, that any value you might find outside your work, any other loyalty or love, can be only travelers you choose to share your journey and must be travelers going on their own power in the same direction.”” [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Overextending yourself in a role beyond your capacity leads to stagnation, while underusing your abilities causes decay; true purpose lies in aligning work with personal values and driving forward with ambition. **In simple terms:** Avoid jobs that are too big or too small; match work to your mind’s capacity and values. Key Takeaway Align work with your values and drive your mind’s potential. Themes purpose ambition self‑actualization work ethic growth Mood determined reflective motivational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career planning - personal development - leadership - entrepreneurship - skill matching Key Concepts Objectivism self‑direction motivation Questions to Reflect On - What role truly challenges your mind? - How can you ensure your work reflects your core values? A Different Perspective If you ignore personal values, you may become a passive participant in life. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Ambition Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition-values-752331/) [Another man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-man/) [Borrowed time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowed-time/) [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Decay Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/decay-work-3741544/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lose Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lose-ambition-667470/) [Mind Driver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind-driver-3741543/) [Motivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motivation/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Purpose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/purpose/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) ## Related quotes > [“Productiveness is your acceptance of morality, your recognition of the fact that you choose to live--that productive work is the process by which man's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/productiveness-is-your-acceptance-of-morality-your-recognition-of-the-3/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Companies that succeed are driven by internal ambition. Stock price doesn’t drive them. Ambition and values drive them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sumantra-ghoshal/companies-that-succeed-are-driven-by-internal-ambition-stock-price/) [Sumantra Ghoshal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sumantra-ghoshal/) > [You quit, you lose. You keep going, you may still lose. But, your ambition will never die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gurbaksh-chahal/you-quit-you-lose-you-keep-going-you-may-still-lose-but-your-ambition/) [Gurbaksh Chahal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gurbaksh-chahal/) > [“People are ruined by challenged economic lives. But they are ruined by wealth as well because they lose their ambition and they lose their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/people-are-ruined-by-challenged-economic-lives-but-they-are-ruined-by/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [Love, friendship, respect, admiration are the emotional response of one man to the virtues of another, the spiritual payment given in exchange for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/love-friendship-respect-admiration-are-the-emotional-response-of-one/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [You still love me - even if there's one expression of it that you will always feel and want, but will not give me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/you-still-love-me-even-if-there-s-one-expression-of-it-that-you-will/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“What I described last,” said Francisco, “is any man who proclaims his right to a single penny of another man’s effort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/what-i-described-last-said-francisco-is-any-man-who-proclaims-his/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [I swearby my life and my love of itthat I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/i-swearby-my-life-and-my-love-of-itthat-i-will-never-live-for-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“Do you know the hallmark of a second rater? 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Did she even think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lissa-price/did-cinderella-ever-consider-fessing-up-to-the-prince-that-night-she/) [Lissa Price](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lissa-price/) > [“I don't want to die," she repeated, her voice trembling. "I want to live. I want to live life with all its emotions, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-leighton/i-don-t-want-to-die-she-repeated-her-voice-trembling-i-want-to-live-i/) [M. Leighton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-leighton/) > [“Do you remember that piece of footage on the local news, just as the first tower comes down, woman runs in off the street…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-pynchon/do-you-remember-that-piece-of-footage-on-the-local-news-just-as-the/) [Thomas Pynchon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-pynchon/) > [“look to the fallen leaves of this season as flowers and remember that we are here on borrowed time, that it is never too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/savannah-page/look-to-the-fallen-leaves-of-this-season-as-flowers-and-remember-that/) [Savannah Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/savannah-page/) ## More by Ayn Rand > [There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-are-no-white-lies-there-is-only-the-blackest-of-destruction-and/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [She watched the prairies the rivers, the towns slipping past at an untouchable distance below - and she noted that the sense of detachment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-watched-the-prairies-the-rivers-the-towns-slipping-past-at-an/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“This was reality, she thought, this sense of clear outlines, of purpose, of lightness, of hope.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-was-reality-she-thought-this-sense-of-clear-outlines-of-purpose/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [A “collective” mind does not exist. It is merely the sum of endless numbers of individual minds. If we have an endless number of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/a-collective-mind-does-not-exist-it-is-merely-the-sum-of-endless/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She moved her hand and let it rest against his. He did not withdraw his fingers and he did not pretend indifference. She bent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-moved-her-hand-and-let-it-rest-against-his-he-did-not-withdraw/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/this-miracle-of-me-is-mine-to-own-and-keep-and-mine-to-guard-and-mine/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“There was still one response, the greatest, that she had missed. She thought: To find a feeling that would hold, as their sum, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/there-was-still-one-response-the-greatest-that-she-had-missed-she/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Inflation is not caused by the actions of private citizens, but by the government: by an artificial expansion of the money supply required to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/inflation-is-not-caused-by-the-actions-of-private-citizens-but-by-the/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“We are fornicating in the sight of six billion people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-fornicating-in-the-sight-of-six-billion-people/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“She was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/she-was-fifteen-when-it-occurred-to-her-for-the-first-time-that-women/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Fransisco, you're some kind of very high nobility, aren't you?" He answered, "Not yet. The reason my family has lasted for such a long…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/fransisco-you-re-some-kind-of-very-high-nobility-aren-t-you-he/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you- except the things that count? And your most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/have-you-felt-it-too-have-you-seen-how-your-best-friends-love/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [Every coercive monopoly was created by government intervention into the economy: by special privileges, such as franchises or subsidies, which closed the entry of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/every-coercive-monopoly-was-created-by-government-intervention-into/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [We are all brothers under the skin - and I, for one, would be willing to skin humanity to prove it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/we-are-all-brothers-under-the-skin-and-i-for-one-would-be-willing-to/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) [Explore all 1,777 Ayn Rand quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) ## 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": "“to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear-corroded ape on borrowed motions and borrowed time, and to settle down into a job that requires less than your mind’s full capacity is to cut your motor and sentence yourself to another kind of motion: decay - that your work is the process of achieving your values, and to lose your ambition for values is to lose your ambition to live - that your body is a machine, but your mind is its driver, and you must drive as far as your mind will take you, with achievement as the goal of your road - that the man who has no purpose is a machine that coasts downhill at the mercy of any boulder to crash in the first chance ditch, that the man who stifles his mind is a stalled machine slowly going to rust, that the man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap, and the man who makes another man his goal is a hitchhiker no driver should ever pick up - that your work is the purpose of your life, and you must speed past any killer who assumes the right to stop you, that any value you might find outside your work, any other loyalty or love, can be only travelers you choose to share your journey and must be travelers going on their own power in the same direction.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ayn Rand" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than-your-mind-can-handle-is-to/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than-your-mind-can-handle-is-to/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be4/ayn-rand-59_ambition_to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than_2843532.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“to cheat your way into a job bigger than your mind can handle is to become a fear-corroded ape on borrowed…” — Ayn Rand", "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": "Ayn Rand", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“to cheat your way into a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than-your-mind-can-handle-is-to/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/to-cheat-your-way-into-a-job-bigger-than-your-mind-can-handle-is-to/#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 } } ] } ```