30 Essential Germaine de Staël Quotes You Should Know
Germaine de Staël (born April 22, 1766, Paris, France – died July 14, 1817, Paris, France), orig. Anne Louise Germaine Necker was a French-Swiss writer, intellectual, and political thinker whose works significantly shaped European Romanticism and the intellectual landscape of her time. Known for her influential novels, essays, and political writings—including Delphine, Corinne, or Italy, and On Germany—de Staël explored themes of individual emotion, liberty, and the clash between reason and passion.
Fun Facts
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- Germaine de Staël’s outspoken liberal views and political influence made her a personal enemy of Napoleon, who banned her books, exiled her in 1803 without trial, and barred her from coming within 200 km of Paris for ten years.
- Her novel Corinne, or Italy (1807) introduced a brilliant, artistic, and fiercely independent heroine—breaking 19th-century norms and captivating readers with a character women weren’t yet allowed to be.
- Her father, Jacques Necker, was the finance minister of France under Louis XVI and a key figure in the early French Revolution.
Germaine de Staël’s quotes reflect a bold, independent mind engaged with love, genius, conscience, power, and the human spirit. The following selection highlights her insight, clarity, and lasting relevance.
Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time; effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VIII, Chapter II, Page 138
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.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume II, Page 247
Genius is essentially creative; it bears the character of the individual who possesses it. Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VII, Chapter I, Page 112
Rules are only barriers to prevent children from falling. On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume II, Page 210
The more we know, the better we forgive; whoe’er feels deeply, feels for all who live.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861), Book XVIII, Chapter V, Page 345
Glory itself would be for women only a splendid-mourning suit for happiness.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume II, Page 270
Beauty is a portion of the universe, which, beneath whatever guise presented, awakes religion in the heart of man.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VIII, Chapter II, Page 139
The pleasures of thought are remedies for the wounds of the heart.The Influence of Literature Upon Society (1799), (ed. William Pearson & Co., 1835), Page 98
Men err from selfishness; women, because they are weak.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VI, Chapter III, Page 103
Those men who will not be judged by what they say, may not deserve that we should interest ourselves in what they think.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume I, Page 176
When once enthusiasm has been turned into ridicule, all is defeated, except wealth and power.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book IV, Chapter III, Page 59
Be happy, but be so through piety.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book XX, Chapter III, Page 380
The success of any man, with any woman, is apt to displease even his best friends.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book X, Chapter VI, Page 180
Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things which differ, and the difference of things which are alike.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume II, Page 203
Peril is like wine, it gets into one’s head.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book XII, Chapter II, Page 214-5
Thought can never be compared with action, but when it awakens in us the image of truth.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume I, Page 179
Major Writings of Germaine De Stael on Amazon
Music revives the recollections it would appease.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book IX, Chapter II, Page 157
The search for truth is the noblest of employments, and its promulgation is a duty.On Germany (1813), (ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1887), Volume II, Page 296
Genius inspires this thirst for fame: there is no blessing undesired by those to whom Heaven gave the means of winning it.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book XVI, Chapter I, Page 285
Strength of mind does not wholly display itself, except in attacks upon power. The Influence of Literature Upon Society (1799), (ed. William Pearson & Co., 1835), Page 75
Self-love, so sensitive in its own cause, has rarely any sympathy to spare for others.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VIII, Chapter I, Page 130
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 (ed. George Cawthorn, 1798), Section I, Chapter IV, Page 146
Frivolity, under whatever form it appears, deprives attention of its power, thought of its originality, and sentiment of its depth.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book I, Chapter III, Page 13
We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.Sophie, or The Secret Sentiments (1790), Act 2, Scene 8
We do not arrive at the sublime by degrees, for infinite distances separate it even from the beautiful.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book IV, Chapter III, Page 60
A man must know how to fly in the face of opinion; a woman to submit to it. Delphine (1802), epigraph. The epigraph is taken from the writings of de Staël's mother, Suzanne Necker.
Enthusiasm, though the seed of every high heroic deed, each pious sacrifice – its lot is scorn, from those who feel it not.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book XVIII, Chapter V, Page 348
The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still farther 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 (1799), (ed. William Pearson & Co., 1835), Page 78
Imitation is a double murder; for it deprives both copy and original of their primitive existence.Corinne, or Italy (1807), (ed. H. W. Derby, 1861) Book VII, Chapter I, Page 112
Life frequently appears only a continued storm, the wrecks of which are friendship, love, and glory. The banks of that time, which has flowed during the course of life, are covered by their fragments. Reflections on Suicide (1813), (ed. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1887), Page 34
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