Germaine de Staël

French-Swiss author

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Faults and Weaknesses
The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults andour misfortunes.
Madame de Staël, quoted in Samuel Griswold Goodrich’s Lives of Celebrated Women
The Heart and Emotion
Madame de Staël, letter (1810)
Humor and Wit
Wit consists in seeing the resemblance between things which differ, and the difference between things which are alike.
Madame de Staël, De l’Allemagne
Pain and Suffering
One must, in one’s life, make a choice between boredom and suffering.
Madame de Staël, letter (1800)
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 Staël, The Influence of Literature upon Society
To understand everything makes one very indulgent.
Madame de Staël, Corinne
[This is probably the source of the quotation “To understand everything is to forgive everything,” commonly attributed to Madame de Staël.]
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