I'm pretty
sure that this
quote originally comes from the
poem "
Ode" by Arthur O'Shaughnessy:
Ode
We are the
music-makers,
And we are the
dreamers of
dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by
desolate streams.
World-
losers and world-
forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world
forever, it seems.
With wonderful
deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous
story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at
pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can
trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried
past of the earth,
Built Ninevah with our sighing,
And
Babel itself with our
mirth;
And o'erthrew them with
prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is
dying,
Or one that is coming to
birth.
This poem is
obviously
written as an
address from the
author to the
reader, but it seems he is
speaking
specifically to the
artists who are reading it. It makes me
feel good.
...and what are the
computer geeks who sit here and
node? who are the ones
exploring the
strange capabilities of this new
electric media in front of them? who is it who dreams of the
future, living in the age of dying
mechanization and
exponentially growing
electronics? who uses their
computer to
communicate globally and
write music and make
graphics and
crazy databases?
yes. they are the artists.
we are the music makers.