That's my point, we know so little about them that it's impossible to compare. Everyone, no matter how great/influential has a mundane, humdrum, petty aspect t

That's my point, we know so little about them that it's impossible to compare. Everyone, no matter how great/influential has a mundane, humdrum, petty aspect to his/her existence. We are just privy to the biographies of the philosophers you mention filtered through the lens of centuries of hero worship. Rand lived in the television age. When I first saw her in a video interview after reading her books I was disappointed at first glimpse. It's inevitable. Nobody can ever live up to their creative achievements.