Lou Andreas-Salome
Lou Andreas-Salomé (née Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia to parents of French Huguenot and northern German descent. Her diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with an astounding array of luminaries, including Nietzsche, Wagner, Freud, and Rilke.
Andreas-Salomé was a prolific author, writing several plays, essays and more than a dozen novels. It was Andreas-Salome who began calling Rilke "Rainer" instead of "René." Her Hymn to Life so deeply impressed Nietzsche that he was moved to set it to music. She was one of the first female psychoanalysts (a career she maintained until a year before her death) and also one of the first women to write on female sexuality. Her book, Lebensrückblick, written toward the end of her life, is based on her memories as a liberated woman.
“Whoever reaches into a rosebush may seize a handful of flowers; but no matter how many one holds, it's only a small portion of the whole. Nevertheless, a handful is enough to experience the nature of the flowers. Only if we refuse to reach into the bush, because we can't possibly seize all the flowers at once, or if we spread out our handful of roses as if it were the whole of the bush itself -- only then does it bloom apart from us, unknown to us, and we are left alone.”
“If you have no more happiness to give:Give me your pain.”
“Poetry is something in-between the dream and its interpretation.”
“Should we not be moved rather than chilled by the knowledge that he might have attained his greatness only through his frailties?”