• A woman . . . always feels herself complimented by love, though it may be from a man incapable of winning her heart, or perhaps even her esteem.

    Abel Stevens: A woman . . . always feels herself complimented by love, though it may be from a man incapable of winning her heart, or perhaps even her esteem.
    Abel Stevens, John Boyd Thacher Collection (Library of Congress) (1880). “Madame de Staël, a study of her life and times: the first revolution and the first empire”