In the youth of a state arms do flourish; in the middle age of
a state, learning; and then both of them together for a time;
in the declining age of a state, mechanical arts and merchandise.
We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid
of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. We want men
and women who shall renovate life and our social state but we see that
most natures are insolvent, cannot satisfy their own wants, have an
ambition out of all proportion to their practical force, and so do lean
and beg day and night continually....