--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All ambitions are lawful except those…" description: "\"All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. All intellectual and artistic ambitions are permiss..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/joseph-conrad-336_ambition_all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-wh_2799518.jpg" --- # All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward… ![“All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. All intellectual and artistic ambitions are permissible, up to and even beyond the limit of prudent sanity. They can hurt no one.” quote by Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/joseph-conrad-336_ambition_all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-wh_2799518.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/joseph-conrad-336_ambition_all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-wh_2799518.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8f5/joseph-conrad-336_ambition_all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-wh_2799518.jpg) > “All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. All intellectual and artistic ambitions are permissible, up to and even beyond the limit of prudent sanity. They can hurt no one.” [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ambitions that exploit human suffering are immoral; creative pursuits are acceptable if they stay within sane bounds. **In simple terms:** Only harmful ambitions are wrong. Key Takeaway Pursue ethical creativity. Themes ethics ambition humanity Mood thoughtful serious Type ethical philosophical When to use this quote - writing ethically - evaluating project impact - balancing ambition with sanity - social responsibility in art Key Concepts moral philosophy creative freedom Questions to Reflect On - What defines a "prudent" limit for artistic ambition? - Can harmful ambition ever be justified? A Different Perspective Ambition can still cause unintended harm. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambitions/) [Ambitions Lawful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambitions-lawful-1978861/) [Ambitions Permissible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambitions-permissible-3440568/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Artistic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artistic/) [Artistic Ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artistic-ambitions-1390025/) [Atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atheism/) [Climbs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climbs/) [Credulity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credulity/) [Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hurt/) [Intellectual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intellectual/) [Lawful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lawful/) [Limits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/limits/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Misery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/misery/) [Motivation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motivation/) [Positive atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/positive-atheism/) [Prudent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prudent/) [Sanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sanity/) ## Related quotes > [All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-which-climb-upward-on-the/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward upon the miseries and credulities of mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-which-climb-upward-upon-the/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline . Give someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-baty/the-biggest-thing-separating-people-from-their-artistic-ambitions-is/) [Chris Baty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-baty/) > [Anybody with artistic ambitions is always trying to reconnect with the way they saw things as a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-burton/anybody-with-artistic-ambitions-is-always-trying-to-reconnect-with/) [Tim Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-burton/) > [All ambitions are lawful except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/all-ambitions-are-lawful-except-those-that-climb-upward-on-the/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [There is no credulity so eager and blind as the credulity of covetousness, which, in its universal extent, measures the moral misery and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/there-is-no-credulity-so-eager-and-blind-as-the-credulity-of/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [For lawful power is still superior found, When long driven back, at length it stands the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/for-lawful-power-is-still-superior-found-when-long-driven-back-at/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [If war is ever lawful, then peace is sometimes sinful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-war-is-ever-lawful-then-peace-is-sometimes-sinful/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“The world is so lawful that not even a single mosquito can touch you, as long as you do not interfere. If your interference…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/the-world-is-so-lawful-that-not-even-a-single-mosquito-can-touch-you/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [Americans have a right to obtain firearms for lawful purposes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madison-cawthorn/americans-have-a-right-to-obtain-firearms-for-lawful-purposes/) [Madison Cawthorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madison-cawthorn/) > [“This makes it Lawful for a Man to Kill a Thief, who has not in the least hurt him, nor declared any design upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-locke/this-makes-it-lawful-for-a-man-to-kill-a-thief-who-has-not-in-the/) [John Locke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-locke/) > [Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-mcconaughey/is-it-not-lawful-for-me-to-do-what-i-will-with-mine-own/) [Matthew McConaughey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-mcconaughey/) > [There is in all of a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/there-is-in-all-of-a-strong-disposition-to-believe-that-anything/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [“Ally may be Evan’s by law, but she’s mine by nature. And in a battle between lions, no one gives a fuck about what’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-l-jennings/ally-may-be-evan-s-by-law-but-she-s-mine-by-nature-and-in-a-battle/) [S.L. Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-l-jennings/) > [The law is the collective organization of the individual's right to lawful defense of his life, liberty and property. When it is used for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/the-law-is-the-collective-organization-of-the-individual-s-right-to/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) ## More by Joseph Conrad > [“Hunters for gold or pursuers of fame, they all had gone out on that stream, bearing the sword, and often the torch, messengers of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/hunters-for-gold-or-pursuers-of-fame-they-all-had-gone-out-on-that/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-good-author-is-he-who-contemplates-without-marked-joy-or/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Let the earth and the sea each have its own.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/let-the-earth-and-the-sea-each-have-its-own/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [He hated all this, and somehow he couldn't get away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/he-hated-all-this-and-somehow-he-couldn-t-get-away/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“A fool, what with sheer fright and fine sentiments, is always safe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/a-fool-what-with-sheer-fright-and-fine-sentiments-is-always-safe/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The mind of man is capable of anything-because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-mind-of-man-is-capable-of-anything-because-everything-is-in-it/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Few men realize that their life, the very essence of their character, their capabilities and their audacities, are only the expression of their belief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/few-men-realize-that-their-life-the-very-essence-of-their-character/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Perhaps on some quiet night the tremor of far-off drums, sinking, swelling, a tremor vast, faint; a sound weird, appealing, suggestive and wild -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/perhaps-on-some-quiet-night-the-tremor-of-far-off-drums-sinking/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“All that mysterious life of the wilderness that stirs in the forest, in the jungles, in the hearts of wild men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/all-that-mysterious-life-of-the-wilderness-that-stirs-in-the-forest/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“The fascination of the abomination—you know.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-fascination-of-the-abomination-you-know/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/it-s-only-those-who-do-nothing-that-make-no-mistakes-i-suppose/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [“Thieving was not a sheer absurdity. It was a form of human industry, perverse indeed, but still an industry exercised in an industrious world;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/thieving-was-not-a-sheer-absurdity-it-was-a-form-of-human-industry/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-found-myself-back-in-the-sepulchral-city-resenting-the-sight-of/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [Society was calling to its accomplished child to come, to be taken care of, to be instructed, to be judged, to be condemned; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/society-was-calling-to-its-accomplished-child-to-come-to-be-taken/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I was constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my actions as my own personality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/i-was-constantly-watching-myself-my-secret-self-as-dependent-on-my/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) [Explore all 645 Joseph Conrad quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) ## 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": "All ambitions are lawful except those which climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind. 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