Madame de Stael
Madame de Stael
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French woman of letters of Swiss origin whose lifetime overlapped with the events of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. She was one of Napoleon's principal opponents. Celebrated for her conversational eloquence, she participated actively in the political and intellectual life of her times. Her works, both critical and fictional, made their mark on the history of European Romanticism...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth22 April 1766
CountryFrance
The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.
Beauty is one in the universe, and, whatever form it assumes, it always arouses a religious feeling in the hearts of mankind.
We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.
The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it.
To be totally understanding makes one very indulgent.
We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love
Courage of soul is necessary for the triumphs of genius.
Kindness and generosity ... form the true morality of human actions.
When we destroy an old prejudice, we have need of a new virtue.
Venice astonishes more than it pleases at first sight ...
New doctrines ever displease the old. They like to fancy that the world has been losing wisdom, instead of gaining it, since they were young.
nothing is so horrifying as the possibility of existing simply because we do not know how to die.
Exile: A tomb in which you can get mail.
[Moralistic] novels are at the same disadvantage as teachers: children never believe them, because they make everything that happens relate to the lesson at hand.