Explore "Quiet Work" by Matthew Arnold on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
One lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee, / One lesson that in every wind is blown, / One lesson of two duties serv'd in one, / Though the loud world proclaim their enmity --
Of Toil unsever'd from Tranquillity: / Of Labour, that in still advance outgrows / Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in Repose, / Too great for haste, too high for rivalry.
Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, / Man's senseless uproar mingling with his toil, / Still do thy sleepless ministers move on, / Their glorious tasks in silence perfecting: / Still working, blaming still our vain turmoil; / Labourers that shall not fail, when man is gone.