bum with a heart of gold

A person who continuously has large aspirations for themselves. However, they repeatedly fail to meet these goals due to their laziness and poor quality of life.

Dennis: Bailey told me he was holding out for a management position. Too bad he screwed up and did meth on the job the other day. That will probably hurt his chances.

Randy: Yeah. What are you gonna do? He’s just a bum with a heart of gold!