I know of no writer who covers as much territory with as much lighthearted intelligence as A. Robert Lee. Here he is on the subject of ambition in his latest book, OUTSIDE IN: Hinges and Swivels, just out from Time is an Ocean Publications. — jh
Ambition A. Robert Lee
I could have been a good Pope. Richard Nixon Pope Richard. Vatican-gate. You can't but speculate such would have had the cardinals reeling. A break-in at the Sistine Chapel. A Da Vinci Code cover-up in St. Peter's Basilica. Tapes, with an 18-1/2 minute prayer gap, in the Apostolic Palace. Swiss Guards working as stringers for The Washington Post. Spinoza said he believed ambition a "species of madness." On the other hand we have Samuel Johnson who was sure that "To be happy at home is the ultimate result of ambition." Macbeth was more than a touch prone to "vaulting ambition." And if you need more of the bard then always to hand is his line about "young ambition's ladder" in Julius Caesar. John Keats thought that between boyhood and manhood you could suffer "thick-sighted ambition." And another John, John Adams who became Ameria's second president, held the view in 1760 that "a pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition." Slightly more of a later time Elvis Presley offered the view that "Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine." Not bad for one of the greatest rockabillies in history. "I like to put it on," said Little Richard. So you can hardly say there hasn't been a bevy of celebrated voices to keep you sharp, on the ball about ambition. But then you come to Eisenhower's vice-president, the 37th President. Not exactly a John Adams. It's doubtful whether Adams, Founding Father and son of Massachusetts, would have been caught imagining himself an Italian or any kind of pope. Even in an off moment. Which, in turn, brings you to the variety of other ambitions. For a start all the kind of ordinary ones. Read the next page (and double click to enlarge when you get there). Read the page after that (and double-click to enlarge when you get there). Read the final page (and double-click to enlarge when you get there).
