Here I stand convinced of the fact that I shall never see you again. I am sooner beaten than conquered. But you whom I have told how much suffering I have known, will you refuse me the favour of undoing the evil fate into which your letter has cast me ? ... I do not want to lose what I have obtained, this friendship is necessary to me; what does it matter if it is not you. Give me from your surplus what will be life to me.
Germaine de Staël (1766 - 1817), in a letter to Pange Ormesson, 25 fructidor [11 September 17951, at midnight in: “Madame de Staël. Selected correspondence”, translated by Kathleen Jameson-Cemper







