Independent woman George Sand (1804-1876), born Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin to an aristocratic Parisian family, did the unthinkable in her time: she claimed her equality, took on a man's name, and left a loveless marriage to pursue her dreams to write.

"We cannot tear out a single page of our life," she observed, "but we can throw the whole book in the fire."

A bold and dynamic woman, she had open love affairs--famous liaisons with composer Frederic Chopin and poet Alfred de Musset. She cross-dressed, smoked a pipe, and said with brutal honesty, "Man. . . is only too glad to have (a) woman hold strictly to the Christian principle of suffering in silence."

Clearly, she was a woman born ahead of her time.

Biographer Rene Doumic called the courageous Sand "a genius...and daughter of Rousseau," and celebrated Sand's spirit as "vibrating with every breath, electrified by every storm, she (Sand) looked up at every cloud behind which she fancied she saw a star shining."

An inspiration to writers Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Virginia Woolf, Victor Hugo, and others, Sand's prolific career included over 100 novels, plays, and essays, including her famous novel, Lelia (1833).

"It is a mistake to regard age as a downhill grade toward dissolution. The reverse is true. As one grows older one climbs with surprising strides," she remarked.

More George SAND Quotations

Love, and be loved.