We'll start building things up just to tear them down again. We'll try to hold back the sea. We'll force water to flow where it shouldn't. We'll generally make terrible use of the time nature gave us. Some people hoard their time like misers. Others blow through it carelessly. Some spend it so they can show what they've accomplished. Others waste it so completely that they have nothing left to show for it — which is the most shameful thing of all. You'll often meet a very old man who has nothing but his age to prove he's been alive for a long time.
we shall begin to build up and to pull down, to dam out the sea, to cause waters to flow through natural obstacles, and generally to make a bad disposal of the time which Nature has given us to spend: some of us use it grudgingly, others wastefully; some of us spend it so that we can show a profit and loss account, others so that they have no assets remaining: than which nothing can be more shameful. Often a man who is very old in years has nothing beyond his age by which he can prove that he has lived a long time."