Madame de Staël thought it was pride in mankind to endeavour to penetrate the secret of the universe; and speaking of the higher metaphysics she said: "I prefer the Lord's Prayer to it all."

Quoted in Albertine-Adrienne Necker de Saussure, Sketch of the Life, Character, and Writings of Baroness de Staël-Holstein (1820), p. 349; often misquoted as, "I desire no other evidence of the truth of Christianity than the Lord's Prayer."