"Le bon Dieu est dans le detail" - Gustav Flaubert.
This quote is also attributed to Michelangelo, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe and Aby Warburg.
Confusingly it is a variation of "The Devil is in the details", which was apparently the maxim of the German pop singer Blixa Bargeld.
Anyway, god or devil, this expression catches my attention because it is so obviously true. Too often our lazy minds love to over-simplify, ignore things to suite our prejudices or convenience. I think I prefer to believe that god is in the details, as it encourages me to keep looking.
Maybe its was a lazy docrine that recast god into the devil, people who don't want you to find out that reality is beautifully complex.
PS. I was alerted to this quote by the masterful series called Spooks. It took me ages to find anything out about Flaubert, mostly because I didn't know how to spell his name, (miserable researcher and ignoramous that I am).
