“Better have failed in the high aim, as I,
Than vulgarly in the low aim succeed,—
As, God be thanked! I do not.”
The Inn Album, iv.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Robert Browning 179
English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era 1812–1889Related quotes
“Do not aim low, you will miss the mark. Aim high and you will be on a threshold of bliss.”
Source: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom, p. 177
“3769. One may as much miss the Mark, by aiming too high, as too low.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 121
Source: Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living
“I will commit not the terrible crime of aiming too low.”
Source: The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968), Ch. 15 : The Scroll Marked VIII, p. 91.
Context: I will commit not the terrible crime of aiming too low. I will do the work that a failure will not do. I will always let my reach exceed my grasp.
Attributed without citation in Ken Robinson, The Element (2009), p. 260. Widely attributed to Michelangelo since the late 1990s, this adage has not been found before 1980 when it appeared without attribution in E. C. McKenzie, Mac's giant book of quips & quotes.
Disputed
Variant: The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
“Not failure, but low aim, is crime.”
For an Autograph, st. 5 (1868)