I'm not sure exactly what situation you are describing since you don't give any details (not that you have to, it just makes it easier to solve problems when you give examples of what you mean), but I'll try and answer your questions one by one.
Giving up on? On life? No.
No.
At first, yes. But in the long run, it will cause more pain.
I know people who have no ambitions, often they end up living with their folks at 45+. Usually not because the system sucks, though that's a factor that de-incentivizes ambition, it's not the point because it is still totally possible to realize one's ambitions in today's society. The people I'm talking about have no goals, no horizons. I'm gonna let you imagine what these people will do once their parents are gone.
No, not in a moral sense, but it will lead you into a shit situation.
No, not at all, you can just be going through a rough patch right now.
It's never too late to do anything. Unless you're dead. 18 is very young. You have your whole life ahead of you.
It's good to be realistic about what you can do, what you're good at, what your strengths and weaknesses are etc. I don't think it's good to cling to an ideal, as you'll waste alot of energy trying to maintain an internal state of mind, when what really matters is what happens outside of your self, in reality. If an ideal really appeals to you, I find there is no point in clinging to it anyways, as it appeals to something deep inside you, so it will always come back to you. Don't cling to an internal state, this is something I have trouble with as well.
You have to find your own answers. Others can give you some pointers, but in the end you have to see what makes sense to you.
I prefer perseverence to patience. Patience seems kinda passive. Perseverence has an implication of working actively towards something, pateince can be waiting for money to rain from the sky for all I can tell.
I don't know what you mean by "speeding up growth". Growth of what?
It isn't clear to me what problem you're describing exactly as you don't get into the specifics of what your goals were and why you gave up on them etc.
Hope that helps. Btw, I can't spoonfeed you the answers, just explain from my perspective since I am older and that probably counts for something. It's up to you to make sense of it all.