John Newton, the famous preacher and hymn writer wrote the following fable in 1779:

"Once upon a time a paper kite mounted to a wondrous height, where giddy with its elevation, it thus expressed self-admiration: 'See how yon crowds of gazing people admire my flight above the steeple; how they would wonder if they knew all that a kite like me can do! Were I but free, I'd take a flight and pierce the clouds beyond their sight; but, ah, like a poor prisoner bound, my string confines me to the ground. I'd brave the eagle's towering wing might I but fly without a string.' It tugged and pulled, while thus it spoke, to snap the string. At last it broke. Deprived at once of all its stay, in vain it tried to soar away. Unable its own weight to bear, it fluttered downward through the air. Unable its own course to guide, the winds soon plunged it in the tide. Ah, foolish kite, thou hast no wing, how couldst thou fly without a string?

Oh Lord, I see how much this kite resembles me! Forgetful that by Thee I stand, impatient of Thy ruling hand; how oft I've wished to break the lines Thy wisdom for my lot assigns! How oft indulged a vain desire for something more, or something higher! But for Thy grace and love divine, a fall thus dreadful had been mine!"