Moral Ambition Audiobook By Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore cover art

Moral Ambition

Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference

Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Moral Ambition

By: Rutger Bregman, Erica Moore
Narrated by: Boris Hiestand, Rutger Bregman
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.49

Buy for $22.49

LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.

From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Humankind and Utopia for Realists—“a more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell” (The New York Times)—comes a bold manifesto daring us to harness our talents and transform our idealism into action, all with the goal of making the world a wildly better place.

A career consists of 2,000 workweeks, and how you spend that time is one of the most important decisions of your life. Still, millions of people are stuck in in mind-numbing, pointless, or just plain harmful jobs.

There’s an antidote to this waste of talent, and it’s called moral ambition. Moral ambition is the will to be among the best, but with different measures of success. Not a fancy title, fat salary, or corner office, but a career dedicated to the best solutions to the world's biggest problems—whether that means tackling climate change, making pandemics history or fighting Big Tobacco.

In Moral Ambition, internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman reveals how our conventional definitions of success are harming us and the planet, and shows how we can shift the focus from personal gain to societal benefit. In the process, he explains, we will join a growing movement of pioneers who are already living out this ethos. They're the builders, the problem-solvers, the doers who have chosen a path less traveled. A guidebook to finding that path for ourselves, Moral Ambition reminds us that the real measure of success lies not in what we accumulate, but in what we contribute, and shows how we, too, can build a legacy that truly matters.

The audiobook edition features an interview between Rutger and his editor, Alexander Littlefield.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Rutger Bregman (P)2025 Little, Brown & Company
Best of 2025 Editors Select Personal Development Personal Success Stress Management Success Morality

Interview: Rutger Bregman wants to help you pursue a life of Moral Ambition

'Very often, we know what's wrong with the world.'
-0.00
  • Moral Ambition
  • 'Very often, we know what's wrong with the world.'

Critic reviews

“Rutger Bregman’s latest work isn’t merely a book; it’s a call to action for humanity to re-evaluate our paradigms of success and impact in the world. It serves as a stark wake-up call, urging us to truly utilize our talents to create the future we all wish to live in.”—Trevor Noah
“This book is the wakeup call that our world sorely needs. With his signature clarity and conviction, Rutger Bregman boldly and brilliantly challenges us to hold ourselves to higher standards—and do more for others. Moral Ambition is the rare read that might actually help you become a better person.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and Hidden Potential, and host of the podcast Re:Thinking
"Rutger Bregman challenges the reader to use their lives to improve the world. A bracing but ultimately uplifting wake-up call for a culture increasingly drowning in distraction and consumption!"—Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Deep Work
“Fresh, lucid, and persuasive, Moral Ambition gives us hope, humor, and guidance at a time when all are in short supply. Bregman’s version of our century is ever so much better than the one around us, and so we should all read, consider, and act.”—Timothy Snyder, #1 New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny

Editorial Review

A deprogramming guide for chronic inconsequence
Rutger Bregman warns you at the start of his book that you might actually regret listening because "once you put it down you might just have to change your life." Not unlike Alan Carr or Annie Grace, who have helped millions tackle addictions with the repeated written insistence that they can, Bregman—the renowned Dutch historian who went viral for outraging the world's rich and powerful at Davos—is here to convince you through repetitive assertion that the world needs your talents. He argues that the point of life isn't to be happy but to maximize your impact, and the unfortunate fact is that most of the world's best brains are being used to maximize ad clicks, not solutions to human suffering. Both a wellness industry antidote and a rich history of effective change, Moral Ambition begs you to think not about "What's my passion?" but rather "How can I contribute the most to the world?" If enough people answer his call, it could be that the most large-scale, measurable impact Bregman will have is with this book.—Emily C., Audible Editor

Inspiring Ideas • Hopeful Content • Motivating Research • Great Stories • Dense Nourishment

Highly rated for:

All stars
Most relevant
Es el tercer libro que leo de este autor y no deja de sorprenderme. Me gustó mucho lo práctico del tema, que si bien te empuja más, también te lleva reflexionar en torno a lo que es lograble en el día día

Increíblemente inspirador, pero concreto

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This book was the galvanizing kick my burnout and hopelessness needed. I highly recommend it

Galvanizing even amidst the backdrop of how hopeless the world seems

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I found it very informative. but I do believe alot of what the author has said and say it myself all the time. let's hope more people chose to change the world in the near future. I can not believe we haven't found a cure for malaria!!!

I wish more people thought this way

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

If you’re content with your successful career and modest contributions to society, you may not want to read this book. If you graduated top of your class and then went into consulting in order achieve peak social status, you may find the content of this book disruptive. But if there’s any part of you, even the smallest part, that asks whether your life has meaning, you should read this book. It provides a framework for measuring your life choices and a few small arguments for potentially reconsidering them.

You’re probably a loser

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

This addresses so many factors I’ve racked in my own ability, frustration and helplessness. Highly recommend for those looking to drive meaningful impact and not just squawk.

Timely

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews