To nations of men, as to individuals, it happens often, that they are allured by the splendor of a distant object, to pursue it with more ardour than it appears on attainment to have deserved. They are then apt to complain of fallacious appearances, and to wonder that the system, of which they are a part, should expose them to such delusions. But though their industry may have been roused and excited by a certain degree of delusive splendor, without the charms of which it might not have been awakened at all, they are never cheated of its proper reward. Were indeed both the progressive reward of well-directed industry, and that which is obtained at the termination of its endeavours, much inferior to their usual amount, one powerful reason would still remain to impel mankind to the pursuit of every attainable object, and to make them aspire after every apparent improvement of their actual condition, whatever it may be. The first course of time is continually taking away from that which we possess, and from the high perfection of whatever we have cultivated and refined.
Nothing ever stands still.