Madame de Stael Quotes on Knowledge
Germaine de Staël (1766–1817), the central salon hostess and intellectual of the Coppet group in opposition to Napoleon, gave early-nineteenth-century French letters two of its most ambitious exercises in cultural sociology: De la littérature (1800) and De l'Allemagne (1810, suppressed by Napoleon and republished 1813). The framework treats literary and philosophical knowledge as the product of social, political, and climatic conditions whose comparative analysis across nations and historical periods supplies the genuinely philosophical study of culture. De l'Allemagne introduced Kant, Schiller, and the Schlegels to the Francophone reading public and shaped the European reception of German idealism.
Quotes
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Attributed to Madame de Stael:
“To understand all is to forgive all.”
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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. -
“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.