Germaine de Staël

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, known as Madame de Staël, led salons in Paris and Geneva and wrote Corinne ou l’Italie and De l’Allemagne. Her opposition to Napoleon led to her exile from Paris. In his 1872 memoir, Sir Henry Holland recalled her saying of ghosts, “Je n’y crois pas, mais je les crains” (I don’t believe in them, but I fear them). Quote Investigator says that evidence is weakened by its late appearance.