He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must fall with the greatest loss.

He who blinded by ambition, raises himself to a position whence he cannot mount higher, must fall with the greatest loss. – Niccolò Machiavelli

Lottery winners often find out that their cash ignites their ambition. But when they’ve burned through all of their new-found cash, the fall is phenomenally large.

What does that mean?
This is an interesting quote, if only for the number of requirements needed to get the stated outcome. Those who have read some of the works of Machiavelli might recognize the long, drawn out, and complex sentence structures he often uses. This matches the pattern quite well.

To start with, says the quote, you have to be blinded by ambition. You must be so intent on attaining a position or station in life, that you ignore all the warnings regarding what you are doing. Be it your methods, your path, or even your destination, others will try to warn you, but you will not see the light.

Then, you have to get to a place so high up that there is nowhere else for you to go from there. Think of a cat which climbed a telephone pole. Now what? How do you get down from there? There is only one way to go, and that is down. At least that’s according to the quote.

That one way down is to fall. And the higher you went up, the farther you have to go down. The more you had gained, the more you have to lose. Whether it’s lottery winners, politicians, or businessmen, you see them scramble to keep what they have, and then fall, often in shame and and with condemnation.

Why is not being blinded by ambition important?  
Consider the Year of Four Emperors for an ancient example. Each saw a way to rise to the very top. Each, charged ahead without due consideration, and each was dispatched in turn. How blind do you have to be to not see that the vacancy you seek to fill was created by the murder of your predecessor? And how blind was the fourth to not see what happened to the prior three Emperors?

Now consider the modern equivalent, the lottery winner. While most lottery winners don’t end up physically stabbed to death by the Praetorian Guard, they end up being stabbed in the back by their money. Their lack of respect for, and (mis)use of, the cash to pursue their ambitions often leads directly to their downfall.

If we can keep some perspective in our lives, if we can see what is happening around us, we stand a better chance of not screwing up. That is the whole point of this blog, to examine our lives. If we look ourselves, both without and within, we can better determine if we are on the best path, and avoid the massive crash-n-burn situations.

Where can I apply this in my life?
Do you have any blind ambitions? That was a trick question, as if you are truly blind, you (by definition) cannot see, right? So a blind ambition can only be seen from the outside. However, that doesn’t mean that your ambition doesn’t leave you clues.

What clues are there in your life that might indicate that there might be a little blindness in your ambitions? Do friends look at you funny, or wander off when you start talking about your ambitions, or what you’ve done to get to where you already are, on your trip to the top?

Do close friends stop by and ask to speak to you about what you are doing and the implications of your actions? Have others who have been in similar positions tried to council you against your path, your methods, or ambitions? These might be clues that you have blinders on, right?

Something else you might want to consider is how tightly focused you are on your dream or goals. Are you staring at it so intently that you have no idea what else is going on around you? Not only are you missing the clues, but you might be missing other, potentially better, paths to your destination.

Consider the path to the top of a mountain. Unless it’s constructed by the government, it’s not going to be a set of stairs blasted into the rock, leading straight from the bottom to the top. It will be a winding trail, one that zigs and zags all across the face of the mountain. If you aren’t looking for a better path, just focused on the summit, you will end up with a very hard climb, and perhaps an even earlier fall.

The point of all this is to be aware of what is going on, where you are, and where you are going. Be aware of what you are doing, and how it impacts others around you. Understand the implications of going up, and how you might come back down. It may seem like a lot to think about, but it’s a reality of life.

Keep an eye on yourself. Examine your life, your goals, your motivations, and your ambitions. Avoid blinders and rose colored glasses. If you are keeping track of these things, it will be hard to end up with blinders on, much less to find yourself caught in the clutches of a blind ambition.

But above all, be your best possible self. With that one thing fixed in your mind, many of your other problems will simply vanish.

From: Twitter, @MarkBorkowski
confirmed at :
Photo by Dred242

PS – This quote is unsourced exactly as worded. However, the list on wikiquote contains a number of quotes that are either paraphrased or of a slightly different translation than the words I am used to seeing. As such, while I cannot find the specific translation that has this exact quote, I am comfortable with considering this as a quote by Machiavelli, in spirit, if not in exact words.