If we would succeed in works of the imagination, we must offer a mild morality in the midst of rigid manners; but… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Scientific progress makes moral progress a necessity; for if man's power is increased, the checks that restrain him from abusing it must… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
One must, so long as there is any life left, back up the character of one's life. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The thing that must be preserved in all situations whatever is the reputation of one's character. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Conscience is doubtless sufficient to conduct the coldest character into the road of virtue; but enthusiasm is to conscience what honor is… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The most careful reasoning characters are very often the most easily abashed. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The pursuit of politics is religion, morality, and poetry all in one. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Kindness and generosity ... form the true morality of human actions. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Whatever efforts one may make, one must revert to the realization that religion is the real basis of morality; religion is the… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Morality must guide calculation, and calculation must guide politics. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Have you not observed that faith is generally strongest in those whose character may be called the weakest? — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The only equitable manner in my opinion, of judging the character of a man is to examine if there are personal calculations… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The evil arising from mental improvement can be corrected only by a still further progress in that very improvement. Either morality is… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
What matters in a character is not whether one holds this or that opinion: what matters is how proudly one upholds it. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Good taste cannot supply the place of genius in literature, for the best proof of taste, when there is no genius, would be, not… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
There is no reality on this earth except religion and the power of love; all the rest is even more fugitive than life itself. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
in Italy, almost at every step, history and poetry add to the graces of nature, sweeten the memory of the past, and seem to… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
[Ridicule] laughs at all those who see the earnestness of life and who still believe in true feelings and in serious thought ... It… — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Ought not every woman, like every man, to follow the bent of her own talents? — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The more we know the better we forgive. Whoever feels deeply, feels for all who live. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
Let us then blend everything: love, religion, genius, with sunshine, perfume, music, and poetry. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
A voyage without companionship, that is to say without conversation, is one of the saddest pleasures of life. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
However old a conjugal union, it still garners some sweetness. Winter has some cloudless days, and under the snow a few flowers still bloom. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image
The sight of such a monument is like continual and stationary music, which one hears for one's good as one approaches it. — Madame de Stael Copy Share Image