"One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation."
Victor Hugo was a French novelist, poet, and dramatist and a central figure of French Romanticism. He is best known for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. His work combined literary innovation with strong social and political engagement.