In Staël’s view, one quality, more than any other, distinguished German intellectual life from that of France. That quality was enthusiasm. The meaning she attached to the term was complex. It meant much more than mere excitement. It was the spirit that animated German culture, an attitude that made the search for truth possible. It was also a quality that, in Staël’s opinion, was in danger of extinction in France. Her discussion of enthusiasm, then, includes an implicit contrast between German and French intellectual cultures. As you read this excerpt, also from On Germany, ask yourself what it tells you about Staël’s experience of French intellectual life. What changes might she have wanted to make in the intellectual world from which she first rose to fame?

This chapter is, in some respects, the recapitulation of my whole work; for enthusiasm being the quality which really distinguishes the German nation, we may judge of the influence it exerts over learning, according to the progress of human nature in Germany. Enthusiasm gives life to what is invisible, and interest to what has no immediate action on our comfort in this world; no sentiment, therefore, is more adapted to the pursuit of abstract truths; they are, therefore, cultivated in Germany with a remarkable ardor and firmness.

The philosophers who are inspired by enthusiasm are those, perhaps, who have the most exactness and patience in their labors, and at the same time those who the least endeavor to shine; they love science for itself, and set no value upon themselves, when the object of their pursuit is in question; physical nature pursues its own invariable march over the destruction of individuals; the thought of man assumes a sublime character when it arrives at the power of examining itself from a universal point of view; it then silently assists the triumphs of truth, and truth is, like nature, a force which acts only by a progressive and regular development.

It may be said, with some reason, that enthusiasm leads to a systematizing spirit; when we are much attached to our ideas, we endeavor to connect every thing with them; but in general, it is easier to deal with sincere opinions, than with opinions adopted through vanity. If, in our relations with men, we had to do only with what they really think, we should easily understand one another; it is what they affect to think that breeds discord.

Enthusiasm has often been accused of leading to error, but perhaps a superficial interest is much more deceitful; for, to penetrate the essence of things, it is necessary there should be an impulse to excite our attention to them with ardor. Besides, in considering human destiny in general, I believe it may be affirmed, that we shall never arrive at truth, but by elevation of soul; every thing that tends to lower us is falsehood, and, whatever they may say of it, the error lies on the side of vulgar sentiments.

Enthusiasm, I repeat, has no resemblance to fanaticism, and cannot mislead as it does. Enthusiasm is tolerant, not through indifference, but because it makes us feel the interest and the beauty of things. Reason does not give happiness in the place of that which it deprives us of; enthusiasm finds, in the musing of the heart, and in depth of thought, what fanaticism and passion comprise in a single idea, or a single object. This sentiment, on account even of its universality, is very favorable to thought and to imagination.

Society develops wit, but it is contemplation alone that forms genius. Self-love is the spring of countries where society prevails, and self-love necessarily leads to jesting, which destroys all enthusiasm.

It is amusing enough, it cannot be denied, to have a quick perception of what is ridiculous, and to paint it with grace and gayety; perhaps it would be better to deny ourselves this pleasure, but, nevertheless, that is not the kind of jesting the consequences of which are the most to be feared; that which is attached to ideas and to sentiments is the most fatal of all, for it insinuates itself into the source of strong and devoted affections. Man has a great empire over man; and of all the evils he can do to his fellow-creature, the greatest perhaps is to place the phantoms of ridicule between generous emotions and the actions they would inspire.

Love, genius, talent, distress itself, all thee sacred things are exposed to irony, and it is impossible to calculate to what point the empire of this irony may extend. There is a relish in wickedness; there is something weak in goodness. Admiration for great things may be the sport of wit; and he who attaches no importance to any thing, has the air of being superior to every thing; if, therefore, our hearts and our minds are not defended by enthusiasm, they are exposed on all sides to be surprised by this darkest shade of the beautiful, which unites insolence to gayety.

The social spirit is so formed that we are often commanded to laugh, and much oftener are made ashamed of weeping: from what does this proceed! From this — that self-love thinks itself safer in pleasantry than in emotion. A man must be able to rely well on his wit before he can dare to be serious against a jest; it requires much strength to disclose sentiments which may be turned into ridicule. Fontenelle said: I am eighty years old; I am a Frenchman, and I have never, through all my life, treated the smallest virtue with the smallest ridicule. This sentence argued a profound knowledge of society. Fontenelle was not a sensible man, but he had a great deal of wit; and whenever a man is endowed with any superiority, he feels the necessity of seriousness in human nature. It is only persons of middling understanding who would wish that the foundation of every thing should be sand, in order that no man might leave upon the earth a trace more durable than their own.

The Germans have not to struggle among themselves against the enemies of enthusiasm, which is a great obstacle, at least to distinguished men, Wit grows sharper by contest, but talent has need of confidence. It is necessary to expect admiration, glory, immortality, in order to experience the inspiration of genius; and what makes the distinction between different ages is not nature, which is always lavish of the same gifts, but the opinion which prevails at the epoch in which we live; if the tendency of that opinion is towards enthusiasm, great men spring up on all sides; if discouragement is proclaimed in one country, when in others noble efforts would be excited, nothing remains in literature but judges of the time past.

The terrible events of which we have been witnesses have dried up men’s hearts, and every thing that belongs to thought appeared tarnished by the side of the omnipotence of action. Difference of circumstances has led minds to support all sides of the same questions; the consequence has been that people no longer believe in ideas, or consider them at best as means. Conviction does not seem to belong to our times; and when a man says he is of such an opinion, that is understood to be a delicate manner of expressing that he has such an interest.

The most honest men, then, make to themselves a system which changes their idleness into dignity; they say that nothing can be done with nothing; they repeat, with the Hermit of Prague, in Shakespeare, that what is, is, and that theories have no influence on the world. Such leave off with making what say true; for with such a mode of thinking, they cannot act upon others; and if wit consisted of seeing the pro and con of every subject, it would make the objects which encompass us turn round in such a manner that we could not walk with a firm step upon this tottering ground.

We also see young people, ambitious of appearing free from all enthusiasm, affect a philosophical contempt for exalted sentiments: they think by that to display a precocious force of reason; but it is a premature decay of which they are boasting. They treat talent like the old man who asked, whether love still existed. The mind deprived of imagination would gladly treat even nature with disdain, if nature were not too strong for it.

We certainly do great mischief to those persons who are yet animated with noble desires, by incessantly opposing them with all the argument which can disturb the most confiding hope; nevertheless, good faith cannot grow weary of itself, for it is not the appearance but the reality of things which employs her. With whatever atmosphere we may be surrounded, a sincere word was never completely lost; if there is but one day on which success can be gained, there are ages for the operation of the good which may be done by truth.

The inhabitants of Mexico, as they pass along the great road, carry each a small stone to the grand pyramid which they are raising in the midst of their country. No individual will confer his name upon it, but all will have contributed to this monument, which must survive them all.

Source: O. W. Wight, ed., Germany by Madame the Baroness de Staël-Holstein, vol. 1 (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1875), pp. 363–367.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER