Shooting Niagara: And After?
Thomas Carlyle
Carlyle lived in a time when industrialization was reshaping society, and with it, the role of work in human life. Against a backdrop of revolutionary upheaval and political chaos, he saw honest work as a stabilizing force, a remedy for existential malaise. The emphasis here is on "honest" work—effort aligned with personal integrity and purpose, distinct from the idle or corrupt labor that often accompanied rapid economic change.