Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

… inventiveness is childish, practice sublime.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

The greatest happiness is to transform one’s feelings into actions.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

Every time a new nation…advances toward civilization, the human race perfects itself; every time an inferior class emerges from enslavement and degradation, the human race again perfects itself.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

The pursuit of politics is religion, morality, and poetry all in one.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

Morality must guide calculation, and calculation must guide politics.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

There is a kind of physical pleasure in resisting an iniquitous power.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

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.

— Anne Louise Germaine de Staël