Diane

French woman of letters, poet, and salon hostess of the 19th century

4 quotes in the MindQuotes library.

About

Marie Joséphine de Suin, comtesse de Beausacq, known under the pseudonym Comtesse Diane, was born in 1829 and died in 1899. Active in Parisian literary circles of the late 19th century, she published collections of maxims and thoughts, the most famous being Maximes de la vie (1883), with a preface by Sully Prudhomme. Her writings, compared to those of La Rochefoucauld, are noted for their worldly wisdom and concise style. She hosted a literary salon frequented by figures such as Jane Dieulafoy and Pierre Loti, for whom she acted as an agent during his campaign for the Académie française.

Major works

Maximes de la vie (1883)maxims
Le livre d'or de la comtesse Diane (1897)collection
Glanes de la vie (1898)collection

Key milestones

1883Publication of Maximes de la vie, with a preface by Sully Prudhomme.
1897Publication of Le livre d'or de la comtesse Diane by Paul Ollendorff.
1898Publication of Glanes de la vie, with a preface by Pierre Loti.

Themes

consciencedoubthuman vanityworldly wisdommoral life

Sources: openlibrary.org · viaf.org

“For two people to please one another they must be very nearly alike, so that they may understand each other, and slightly different, so that they may have something to understand in each other.”

— DianeTheme · Love

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“Happiness is not given but exchanged.”

— DianeTheme · Happiness

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“The envious are not happy unless they are making other people envious.”

— DianeTheme · Psychology

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“Timidity is mistrust of self, and proceeds not from modesty but from conceit. A man is timid because he is afraid of not appearing to his best advantage.”

— DianeTheme · Psychology

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