Rudyard Kipling,
Odes of Horace, Book 5 — Ode VI
(1921)
“ By the tongues their act set free, While they quicken, tend, and raise Power that must their power displace. Lesser men feign greater goals, Failing whereof they may sit Scholarly to judge the souls That go down into the pit, And, despite its certain clay, Heave a new world towards the day. These at labour make no sign, More than planets, tides or years Which discover God's design, Not our hopes and not our fears; Nor in aught they gain or lose Seek a triumph or excuse. For, so the Ark be borne to Zion, who Heeds how they perished or were paid that bore it? ”
