“Let us then blend everything: love, religion, genius, with sunshine, perfume, music, and poetry.”

— Madame de Staël, Corinne (1807), Bk. 10, ch. 5

About Madame de Staël

1766 – 1817

French-Swiss writer and salon hostess, author of "Corinne".

“To understand makes one very indulgent.”

“We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.”

“Love is the whole history of a woman's life; it is an episode in a man's.”

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

“If you sing of beauty though alone in the heart of the desert you will have an audience.”

“For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every Art.”

“The love of praise, howe'er concealed by art, reigns more or less, and glows in every heart.”

“A poet without love were a physical and metaphysical impossibility.”

“In art as in love, instinct is enough.”