Madame de Stael Quotes
Anne-Louise-Germaine de Stael, known as Madame de Stael, was a French-Swiss writer, philosopher, and woman of letters who shaped the literary and political thought of her age. Daughter of Necker, finance minister to Louis XVI, and salonniere of one of the most influential Parisian salons, she was repeatedly exiled by Napoleon for the independence of her thought. The quotes below are attributed to Madame de Stael, organized by topic.
Browse Madame de Stael by topic
Madame de Stael on Happiness
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Attributed to Madame de Stael:
“Travel is one of the saddest pleasures of life.”
Madame de Stael on Knowledge
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“On cesse de s'aimer si quelqu'un ne nous aime.”
We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us. | Sophie, or The Secret Sentiments ( Sophie, ou les sentiments secrets , 1790), Act 2, sc. 8 -
“We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.”
On cesse de s'aimer si quelqu'un ne nous aime. -
“Sophie, or The Secret Sentiments ( Sophie, ou les sentiments secrets , 1790), Act 2, sc. 8”
On cesse de s'aimer si quelqu'un ne nous aime. -
“L'amour est l'histoire de la vie des femmes; c'est un épisode dans celle des hommes.”
Love is the whole history of a woman 's life; it is an episode in a man 's. | A Treatise on the Influence of the Passions ( De l'influence des passions , 1796), Sec. 1, ch. 4 -
“A Treatise on the Influence of the Passions ( De l'influence des passions , 1796), Sec. 1, ch. 4”
L'amour est l'histoire de la vie des femmes; c'est un épisode dans celle des hommes. -
“The Influence of Literature upon Society ( De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales , 1800), Pt. 2, ch. 4”
The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still further progress in that very improvement. Either morality is a fable , or the more enlightened we are, the more attached to it we become. -
“The Influence of Literature upon Society (1800), Pt. 2, ch. 5”
If we would succeed in works of the imagination , we must offer a mild morality in the midst of rigid manners ; but where the manners are corrupt , we must consistently hold up to view an austere morality.
Madame de Stael on Life
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“Love is the whole history of a woman 's life; it is an episode in a man 's.”
L'amour est l'histoire de la vie des femmes; c'est un épisode dans celle des hommes.
Madame de Stael on Love
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Attributed to Madame de Stael:
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
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“Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time.”
Bk. 8, ch. 2, as translated by Isabel Hill (1833) | Variant translation: It is certainly through love that eternity can be understood; it confuses all thoughts about time; it destroys the ideas of beginning and end; one thinks one has always been in love with the person one loves, so difficult is it to conceive that one could live without him. As translated by Sylvia Raphael (1998)
Madame de Stael on Mind
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“Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.”
L'esprit consiste à connaître la ressemblance des choses diverses et la différence des choses semblables.
Madame de Stael on Truth
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Attributed to Madame de Stael:
“Genius has no sex.”
Madame de Stael on Virtue
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“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.”
La voix de la conscience est si délicate, qu'il est facile d'étouffer; mais elle est si pure, qu'il est impossible de la méconnaître. -
“The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still further progress in that very improvement. Either morality is a fable , or the more enlightened we are, the more attached to it we become.”
The Influence of Literature upon Society ( De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales , 1800), Pt. 2, ch. 4 -
“If we would succeed in works of the imagination , we must offer a mild morality in the midst of rigid manners ; but where the manners are corrupt , we must consistently hold up to view an austere morality.”
The Influence of Literature upon Society (1800), Pt. 2, ch. 5
Things actually not said by Madame de Stael
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Madame de Stael but are in fact from someone else. Did Madame de Stael say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Madame de Stael say this? No.
“The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.”
Probably a paraphrase of this line from De l’Allemagne , Pt. 3. ch. 10. "Goethe has made a remark upon the perfectability of the human mind, which is full of sagacity : It is always advancing, but in a spiral line." Not known from Goethe 's works.
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Did Madame de Stael say this? No.
“The desire of the man is for the woman , but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.”
Sometimes published as an anonymous saying, this was attributed to Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in Henry Rowley, Is It Nothing To You? Social Purity, A Grave Moral Question (1884), p. 88; to Samuel Taylor Coleridge in "Would You Be Re-elected", Munsey's Magazine (April 1909), p. 769; and to de Staël in Aspects of Western Civilization: Problems and Sources in History (2003), p. 294 (Disputed.)