Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

“So soon as a fashion is universal, it is out of date.”

“Conquer, but don't triumph.”

“Exceptions are not always the proof of the old rule; they can also be the harbinger of a new one.”

“Oh happy pessimists! What a joy it is to them to be able to prove again and again that there is no joy.”

“Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little.”

“What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible.”

“Not what we experience, but how we perceive what we experience, determines our fate.”

“We are so vain that we even care for the opinion of those we don't care for.”

“To be content with little is hard; to be content with much, impossible.”

“We don't believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack.”

“In youth we learn; in age we understand.”

“He who believes in freedom of the will has never loved and never hated.”

“Little evil would be done in the world if evil never could be done in the name of good.”

“None are so eager to gain new experience as those who don't know how to make use of the old ones.”

“Imaginary evils are incurable.”

“Whoever prefers the material comforts of life over intellectual wealth is like the owner of a palace who moves into the servants’ quarters and leaves the sumptuous rooms empty.”

“Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.”

“Authors from whom others steal should not complain, but rejoice. Where there is no game there are no poachers.”

“If you have one good idea, people will lend you twenty.”

“The poor man wishes to conceal his poverty, and the rich man his wealth: the former fears lest he be despised, the latter lest he be plundered.”