Vol. 08 · Shakespeare ·Macbeth, Act I.vii ·Macbeth
"Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself."
Not quite the line.
How it's usually quoted
"Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself."
What Shakespeare actually wrote
"I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other." Macbeth — Macbeth, Act I.vii
Why it matters
The image only completes with the fall on the other side — a horse that jumps too hard and lands wrong. Without that, "vaulting ambition" sounds aspirational.
More from the canon.
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