The Quotable Lewis - Ambition
Ambition! We must be careful what we mean by it. If it means the desire to get ahead of other people- which is what I think it does mean - then it is bad. If it means simply wanting to do a thing well, then it is good. It isn’t wrong for an actor to want to act his part as well as it can possibly be acted, but the wish to have his name in bigger type than the other actors is a bad one.
C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (1944), “Answers to Questions on Christianity,” ans. 9, pp. 55-56