To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works n… — Simone Weil

To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.

Simone WeilPhilosopher · French · 1909 – 1943

More from Simone Weil

The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law. — George W. Bush
Style is as much under the words as in the words. It is as much the soul as it is the flesh of a work. — Gustave Flaubert
The painter must enclose himself within his work; he must respond not with words, but with paintings. — Paul Cezanne
An atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God. — Simone Weil
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. — Simone Weil
To want friendship is a great fault. Friendship ought to be a gratuitous joy, like the joys afforded by art or life. — Simone Weil