“Collect all the facts that can be collected about the life of Racine and you will never learn from them the art of his verse.”

—  Paul Valéry

Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci (1895)
Context: Collect all the facts that can be collected about the life of Racine and you will never learn from them the art of his verse. All criticism is dominated by the outworn theory that the man is the cause of the work as in the eyes of the law the criminal is the cause of the crime. Far rather are they both the effects.

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Paul Valéry 89
French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871–1945

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