Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham.
Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty?
That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force
of movements and events now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming,
nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something
one soon enough learns on one's own. But even the most cynical secretly admit
that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is
that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a
point of view that is likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications,
to remove all motives for competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.