My mother gave me my drive but my father gave me my dreams.

In the evocative words of Liza Minnelli, "My mother gave me my drive but my father gave me my dreams," we encounter a reflection on the powerful forces that shape the human soul: the balance between ambition and imagination. Minnelli’s insight is a testament to the importance of both the practical and the visionary aspects of our nature. Drive, as imparted by her mother, speaks to the force of will, the determination to succeed and persist, while dreams, passed down from her father, are the ideals, the visions, the dreams that inspire and give meaning to one’s journey. Together, these two forces form the bedrock of human striving—the drive to act and the dreams that guide our actions.

This dual inheritance of drive and dreams mirrors the ancient wisdom that spoke to the balance of opposites. In Greek philosophy, particularly in the teachings of Aristotle, we see the concept of virtue as a balance between two extremes—courage and recklessness, ambition and idleness. For Aristotle, virtue lies in finding the middle path, the point at which drive and dreams coexist in harmony. Just as Minnelli speaks of the complementary roles of her parents in shaping her, the ancients would have seen this balance as the key to a fulfilling life—one where vision and action are not in conflict but in concert with each other.

Consider the story of Alexander the Great, who, like Minnelli, was shaped by his parents. His mother, Olympias, was a woman of vision, filled with prophetic dreams of her son’s future greatness, while his father, King Philip II, instilled in him the drive to lead, to conquer, and to assert his power over the world. It was this combination of dreams and drive that propelled Alexander from a young prince to a world-conqueror. He had the vision of an empire stretching across continents, but it was his father’s training in military discipline and leadership that gave him the drive to make that vision a reality. Just as Minnelli credits her mother and father with her own strengths, Alexander’s legacy is the result of this dynamic inheritance of vision and action.

In the same way, the lives of many great figures throughout history remind us of the need for both drive and dreams. Take Leonardo da Vinci, whose artistic genius was paired with an unrelenting drive to study and understand the world around him. His dreams were not confined to the art of painting; they spanned a range of disciplines from anatomy to engineering, and it was his drive to learn and create that allowed these dreams to manifest in his work. Without the drive to test his ideas and the discipline to continue his research, his dreams would have remained mere flights of fancy. Minnelli’s own words remind us that while dreams can inspire us, it is drive—the energy to persist, to overcome obstacles—that transforms those dreams into reality.

The lesson to be drawn from Minnelli’s words is one of balance. To have drive without dreams leads to a life of action without purpose—one may achieve success but miss the deeper fulfillment that comes from having a vision. To have dreams without drive leaves us with mere fantasies—beautiful visions ungrounded in action. The ancients understood that both dreams and drive were essential to a virtuous life. Plato’s philosopher-king, for example, must possess both wisdom and the drive to act justly, while Socrates emphasized that knowledge is only meaningful when it is applied in the service of good. To live a life that fulfills both personal and communal purposes, we must cultivate both the dreams that inspire us and the drive that allows us to realize them.

In practical terms, we must ask ourselves: what are our dreams, and how can we cultivate the drive to pursue them? This means aligning our vision with clear, actionable steps. Whether in our careers, our personal lives, or our creative endeavors, we must identify the goals that will bring our dreams to fruition, and then work with focus and perseverance to achieve them. Like Minnelli, we must be grateful for the influences that have shaped us, but also take responsibility for crafting our own path by combining dreams and drive.

Just as Minnelli recognizes the complementary roles her parents played in shaping her, we too must seek balance in our own lives. Embrace the dreams that inspire and guide you, but also harness the drive that pushes you to act. By cultivating both the vision to see what is possible and the resilience to bring that vision to life, we create lives filled with purpose, achievement, and fulfillment. Whether you are an artist, a leader, or a thinker, remember that dreams and drive are the twin forces that shape the course of a meaningful existence.