The apartment at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris became a sanctuary for writers, intellectuals, artists, and critics, the “Lost Generation,” including Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Matisse, and others who rejected the values of the post–World War I world.

These legends searched for meaning as they created. The owner of the apartment and creative catalyst, Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), was born on this date in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

Eccentric and avant-garde, Stein is known for saying, “rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.” She called her tendency to write repetitions “insistance.” Others called the technique automatic or stream-of-consciousness. Repetition became meditation. She made people slow down. She made them hear words again.

In her collection How to Write (1931), she offered the kind of advice that only Stein could make liberating: “A difference between a noun and a verb is not seen in wishes and wishes.” Then she added, “Forget grammar and think about potatoes.”

In her most popular book, Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), Stein used the voice of her life partner to document the hub of discussions, creativity, and advice that unfolded at 27 Rue de Fleurus.

“Considering how dangerous everything is, nothing is really frightening,” observed Stein, who called herself “the greatest mind of the twentieth century.” Her intellectual courage still inspires others to trust the rhythm of their own voice.