instrument

And that's why, basically, I have at most a limited interest in myself. I feel that I am an instrument through which currents, vibrations, have passed. That is true of all my books and I would even say of all my life. Perhaps of all life. The best of us, perhaps, are mere crystal vessels... Everything began before us and will continue after we are gone. Everything surpasses us, in other words, and we feel humble and amazed when we serve as instruments in this greater scheme.

-- Marguerite Yourcenar With Open Eyes: Conversations with Matthieu Galey
Translated by Arthur Goldhammer

Jason Kuznicki's translated excerpts from Yourcenar's Mémoires d’Hadrien here