Greed and Ambition

There is a thin lie between greed and ambition. The greedy and the ambitious however have one thing in common; they never know when to stop. De facto, there is no line between greed and ambition. Yes, greed is aptly the synonym of ambition.
An achieved goal is seen as an ambition and a failed cause is called greed. Isn't complacency the mother of empires?
I recall the story of the snake, which sought to swallow an elephant. Fed by ambition, it sought to achieve its cause. The villagers tell their children the story of the dead snake, who died not because the elephant killed it, but because it had deadened itself. For in the end both the elephant and the snake were lying dead on the ground, the snake had barely swallowed half of the elephant's leg and got stuck; could neither go forward nor back. It spent the last hours of it's life jaws apart, in that painful position, betrayed by ambition.
Greed is but a word the jealous use to describe the ambitious. It is on us not to fail in our cause, for if we do, we will be called the greedy and little man, but if we succeed, we will be the big man. And ambition is not the voice of little men.