All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper - just running down the edges of different countries and continents, 'looking for something'.
In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain -- that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.