Public work brings a vicarious but assured sense of immortality. We may be poor, weak, timid, in debt to our landlady, bullied by our nieces, stiff in the joints, shortsighted and distressed; we shall perish, but the cause endures; the cause is great.
Pavements at Anderby: tales of "South riding" and other regions by Winifred Holtby (1937 edition)