Quotes from Madame de Stael

there is not enough interest in life to spread over twenty-four hours when one can't sleep.

The education of life perfects the thinking mind, but depraves the frivolous.

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

Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things that differ, and the difference of things that are alike.

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

Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.

the last steps of life are ever slow and difficult.

The face of a woman, whatever be the force or extent of her mind, whatever be the importance of the object she pursues, is always an obstacle or a reason in the story of her life.

Life resembles Gobelin tapestry; you do not see the canvass on the right side; but when you turn it, the threads are visible.

Love is the symbol of eternity.

Life often seems like a long shipwreck of which the debris are friendship, glory, and love. - The shores of existence are strewn with them.

However old a conjugal union, it still garners some sweetness. Winter has some cloudless days, and under the snow a few flowers still bloom.

Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time.

It seems to me that we become more dear one to the other, in together admiring works of art, which speak to the soul by their true grandeur.

And all the bustle of departure - sometimes sad, sometimes intoxicating - just as fear or hope may be inspired by the new chances of coming destiny.

Liberty is the only idea which circulates with the human blood, in all ages, in all countries, and in all literature - liberty that is, and what cannot be separated from liberty, a love of country.

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

Between God and love, I recognize no mediator but my conscience.

Truth and, by consequence, liberty, will always be the chief power of honest men.

... in the history of the human mind there has never been a useful thought or a profound truth that has not found its century and admirers.

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

The mind may be exhausted, but the language of the heart is inexhaustible.

Unhappy love freezes all our affections: our own souls grow inexplicable to us. More than we gained while we were happy we lose by the reverse.

Never, never have I been loved as I love others!