Wharton, Edith — The Age of Innocence [49]

It was little enough to look back on; but when he remembered to what the young men of his generation and his set had looked forward—the narrow groove of money-making, sport and society to which their vision had been limited—even his small contribution to the new state of things seemed to count, as each brick counts in a well-built wall. He had done little in public life; he would always be by nature a contemplative and a dilettante; but he had had high things to contemplate, great things to delight in; and one great man’s friendship to be his strength and pride. — Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence, 49

Note

The measured arithmetic of renunciation—‘little enough to look back on’ balanced against ‘each brick counts’—captures Archer’s reconciled, diminished accounting of a life. ‘Narrow groove of money-making, sport and society’ is a compact indictment of his own set.