A man must know how to fly in the face of opinion; a woman to submit to it.
Madame de Stael

A religious life is a struggle and not a hymn.
Madame de Stael

Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it.
Madame de Stael

In matters of the heart, nothing is true except the improbable.
Madame de Stael

Innocence in genius, and candor in power, are both noble qualities.
Madame de Stael

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.
Madame de Stael

Love is the whole history of a woman's life, it is but an episode in a man's.
Madame de Stael

Men err from selfishness; women because they are weak.
Madame de Stael

One must choose in life between boredom and suffering.
Madame de Stael

Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.
Madame de Stael


Prayer is more than meditation. In meditation, the source of strength is one's self. When one prays, he goes to a source of strength greater than his own.
Madame de Stael

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.
Madame de Stael

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

Sow good services: sweet remembrances will grow from them.
Madame de Stael

Speech happens to not be his language.
Madame de Stael

The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.
Madame de Stael

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

The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.
Madame de Stael

The more I see of men the more I like dogs.
Madame de Stael

The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.
Madame de Stael