Nosy or curious

Curious or nosy?

One sounds possibly noble and even laudable.  The other a little sordid.

I suppose it depends on the subject and motive.

If I am interested in my neighbor's private affairs because I want to gossip about them, that is nosy.  If I am interested in my friend's research topic because I want to enrich myself intellectually, that is curious.

I remember reading about Agee snooping through the dresser of one of the families in his book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and wondering two things.  One:  wouldn't I have been tempted to do the same thing.  Two:  was it simple intellectual curiosity that drove him to do things like that?

I am always interested in the details.  If I write a book about it does that make it legitimately curious?  If I don't, does it simply make me nosy?

I probably don't really want to know!