To be lost in thought is not to be idle. There is visible work and invisible work. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do.

[On n’est pas inoccupé parce qu’on est absorbé. Il y a le labeur visible et le labeur invisible.
Contempler, c’est labourer; penser, c’est agir.]

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 2 “Cosette,” Book 7 “A Parenthesis,” ch. 8 (2.7.8) (1862) [tr. Donougher (2013)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

A man is not idle, because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labour and there is an invisible labour.
To meditate is to labour; to think is to act.
[tr. Wilbour (1862); Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]

To be absorbed is not to be unoccupied, there is an invisible as well as a visible labor.
To contemplate is to labor, to think is to act.
[tr. Wraxall (1862)]

One is not unoccupied because one is absorbed. There is visible labor and invisible labor.
To contemplate is to labor, to think is to act.
[tr. Hapgood (1887)]

One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labour. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do.
[tr. Denny (1976)]


 
Added on 3-Feb-25 | Last updated 3-Feb-25
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