Review the passage. The hyperbole is shown in bold.
Nations are possessed with an ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners? One piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon. I love better to see stones in place.
Adapted from Henry David Thoreau, Walden and on the Duty of Civil Disobedience
What is the effect of the hyperbole on the passage's meaning or tone?