Madame de Stael Quotes

Scientific progress makes moral progress a necessity; for if man's power is increased, the checks that restrain him from abusing it must be strengthened.

Happiness is a wondrous commodity: the more you give, the more you have.

Love is admiring with the heart. And admiring is loving with the mind.

Intellect does not attain its full force unless it attacks power.

The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.

The more I see of man, the more I like dogs.

Who understands much forgives much. To understand everything makes us very forgiving.

The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action.

Of all human sentiments, enthusiasm creates the most happiness; it is the only sentiment in fact which gives real happiness, the only sentiment which can help us to bear our human destiny in any situation in which we may find ourselves.

One must, in one's life, make a choice between boredom and suffering.

Enthusiasm signifies 'God in us.'

I am glad that I am not a man, for then I should have to marry a woman.

Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.

When we destroy an old prejudice, we have need of a new virtue.

As we grow in wisdom, we pardon more freely.

the last steps of life are ever slow and difficult.

Men do not change; they unmask themselves.

We understand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love

Poetry is the apotheosis of sentiment.

Nothing recalls the past like music.

[To Bonaparte, when asked why she meddled in politics:] Sire, when women have their heads cut off, it is but just they should know the reason.

Search for the truth is the noblest occupation of man; its publication is a duty.

Life, for me, is living among my friends.

We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.

Wit lies in recognizing the resemblance among things which differ and the difference between things which are alike.