"It was very different when the masters of science sought immortality and power; such views, although futile, were grand: but now the scene was changed. The ambition of the inquirer seemed to limit itself to the annihilation of those visions on which my interest in science was chiefly founded. I was required to exchange chimeras of boundless grandeur for realities of little worth."

Source: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (2009). “Frankenstein: Easyread Edition”, p.42, ReadHowYouWant.com