--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If there is to be no satisfaction in…" description: "\"If there is to be no satisfaction in pleasure, none in wisdom, none in ambition, none in the golden mean, what then? Ah, where then? In duty. In doing ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37e/lyman-abbott-12542_ambition_if-there-is-to-be-no-satisfaction-in-ple_1779462.png" --- # If there is to be no satisfaction in pleasure, none in… ![“If there is to be no satisfaction in pleasure, none in wisdom, none in ambition, none in the golden mean, what then? Ah, where then? In duty. In doing right because it is right.” quote by Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37e/lyman-abbott-12542_ambition_if-there-is-to-be-no-satisfaction-in-ple_1779462.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37e/lyman-abbott-12542_ambition_if-there-is-to-be-no-satisfaction-in-ple_1779462.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/37e/lyman-abbott-12542_ambition_if-there-is-to-be-no-satisfaction-in-ple_1779462.png) > “If there is to be no satisfaction in pleasure, none in wisdom, none in ambition, none in the golden mean, what then? Ah, where then? In duty. In doing right because it is right.” [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote questions the value of pleasure, wisdom, ambition, and moderation, suggesting that true fulfillment comes from duty and moral action. **In simple terms:** True fulfillment comes from doing what is right. Key Takeaway Prioritize duty over fleeting pleasures. Themes ethics purpose morality Mood reflective serious Type philosophical ethical When to use this quote - career decisions - volunteer work - personal ethics - leadership challenges Key Concepts duty intrinsic value moral philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What duties give your life meaning? - How do you balance duty with personal happiness? A Different Perspective Ignoring personal joy can lead to burnout or resentment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Doing right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-right/) [Duty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duty/) [Golden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/golden/) [Golden mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/golden-mean/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mean/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Pleasure Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure-wisdom-1850083/) [Satisfaction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satisfaction/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [There is a proper measure in all things, certain limits beyond which and short of which right is not to be found. Who so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/there-is-a-proper-measure-in-all-things-certain-limits-beyond-which/) [Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/) > [Virtue is the golden mean between two vices, the one of excess and the other of deficiency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/virtue-is-the-golden-mean-between-two-vices-the-one-of-excess-and-the/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [“Wasn't that the trick, though? Life was one long series of efforts to reach the golden mean, where everything was the way that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seanan-mcguire/wasn-t-that-the-trick-though-life-was-one-long-series-of-efforts-to/) [Seanan McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seanan-mcguire/) > [I have depended on books not only for pleasure and for the wisdom they bring to all who read, but also for that knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-keller/i-have-depended-on-books-not-only-for-pleasure-and-for-the-wisdom/) [Helen Keller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-keller/) > [We may think we live for wisdom, but in fact we're living for the the pleasure wisdom brings us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josef-skvorecky/we-may-think-we-live-for-wisdom-but-in-fact-we-re-living-for-the-the/) [Josef Skvorecky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josef-skvorecky/) > [“As an aesthetic phenomenon existence is still bearable for us,57 and art furnishes us with eyes and hands and above all the good conscience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/as-an-aesthetic-phenomenon-existence-is-still-bearable-for-us-57-and/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [One glance, one word from you gives more pleasure than all the wisdom of this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/one-glance-one-word-from-you-gives-more-pleasure-than-all-the-wisdom/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth: If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/who-mix-d-reason-with-pleasure-and-wisdom-with-mirth-if-he-had-any/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [“This relationship, often called the Golden mean, has been discovered and rediscovered at various times in history as a unique proportion believed to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-pile/this-relationship-often-called-the-golden-mean-has-been-discovered/) [John Pile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-pile/) > [“Aristotle also observed that every virtue seems to be bang in the middle of two vices. It occupies what he termed ‘the golden mean’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-school-of-life/aristotle-also-observed-that-every-virtue-seems-to-be-bang-in-the/) [The School of Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-school-of-life/) > [Greatness, with private men Esteem'd a blessing, is to me a curse; And we, whom, for our high births, they conclude The happy freemen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-massinger/greatness-with-private-men-esteem-d-a-blessing-is-to-me-a-curse-and/) [Philip Massinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-massinger/) > [“Schwaller de Lubicz identifies the Golden Mean as "the fundamental scission," or division of one into two, that creates three things - the original…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-heath/schwaller-de-lubicz-identifies-the-golden-mean-as-the-fundamental/) [Richard Heath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-heath/) > [Keep the golden mean between saying too much and too little.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/keep-the-golden-mean-between-saying-too-much-and-too-little/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“All extremes are dangerous. It is best to keep in the middle of the road, in the common ruts, however muddy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/all-extremes-are-dangerous-it-is-best-to-keep-in-the-middle-of-the/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [“You too can make the golden cut, relating the two poles of your being in perfect golden proportion, thus enabling the lower to resonate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-charlotte-primrose/you-too-can-make-the-golden-cut-relating-the-two-poles-of-your-being/) [Alison Charlotte Primrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-charlotte-primrose/) ## More by Lyman Abbott > [No man can be patient who has not strong passions, for patience is passion tamed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/no-man-can-be-patient-who-has-not-strong-passions-for-patience-is/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [We Gentiles owe our life to Israel. It is Israel who has brought us the message that God is one, and that God is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/we-gentiles-owe-our-life-to-israel-it-is-israel-who-has-brought-us/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [If the impure and the unjust, the drunkard and the licentious, are loathsome to us, what must be the infinite loathing of an infinitely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/if-the-impure-and-the-unjust-the-drunkard-and-the-licentious-are/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [I abhor a hoe. I am fond of flowers but not of dirt, and had rather buy them than cultivate them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/i-abhor-a-hoe-i-am-fond-of-flowers-but-not-of-dirt-and-had-rather-buy/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [If I am to tell you how to grow old gracefully, I must tell you at the beginning of life; for no man can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/if-i-am-to-tell-you-how-to-grow-old-gracefully-i-must-tell-you-at-the/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [Courage is caution overcome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/courage-is-caution-overcome/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [It is easy to condemn, it is better to pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/it-is-easy-to-condemn-it-is-better-to-pity/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [Every life is march from innocence, through temptation, to virtue or vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/every-life-is-march-from-innocence-through-temptation-to-virtue-or/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [A graceful and blessed old age must have three elements in it: a happy retrospect, a peaceful present, and an inspiring future. And old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/a-graceful-and-blessed-old-age-must-have-three-elements-in-it-a-happy/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [A child is a beam of sunlight from the Infinite and Eternal, with possibilities of virtue and vice - but as yet unstained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/a-child-is-a-beam-of-sunlight-from-the-infinite-and-eternal-with/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [I think of death as a glad awakening from this troubled sleep which we call life; as an emancipation from a world, which, beautiful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/i-think-of-death-as-a-glad-awakening-from-this-troubled-sleep-which/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [A miracle constantly repeated becomes a process of nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/a-miracle-constantly-repeated-becomes-a-process-of-nature/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life. It is simply a history of the process of life. With the secret cause…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/evolution-does-not-attempt-to-explain-the-origin-of-life-it-is-simply/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [A miracle no longer seems to me a manifestation of extraordinary power, but an extraordinary manifestation of ordinary power. God is always showing himself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/a-miracle-no-longer-seems-to-me-a-manifestation-of-extraordinary/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) > [Postmodernism represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyman-abbott/postmodernism-represents-a-moment-of-suspension-before-the-batteries/) [Lyman Abbott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) [Explore all 54 Lyman Abbott quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyman-abbott/) ## 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": "If there is to be no satisfaction in pleasure, none in wisdom, none in ambition, none in the golden mean, what then? 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