Saturday's Quotation

Today's quote comes from the American political commentator Herbert Croly (1869-1930), one of the founders of The New Republic magazine. The following is from his book, The Promise of American Life in 1909:

"When the Promise of American life is conceived
as a national ideal, whose fulfillment is a matter
of artful and laborious work, the effect thereof is
substantially to identify the national purpose
with the social problem."