Marie von ebner-eschenbach quotes

In meeting again after a separation, acquaintances ask after our outward life, friends after our inner life.

Those whom we support hold us up in life.

Happy slaves are the bitterest enemies of freedom.

Nothing is so irretrievably missed as an opportunity we encounter every day.

One of the main goals of self-education is to eradicate that vanity in us without which we would never have been educated.

Beware of the virtue which a man boasts is his.

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

All that is due to us will be paid, although not perhaps by those to whom we have lent.

An aphorism is the last link in a long chain of thought.

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

The moral code which was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for our children.

Nothing is so often and so irrevocably missed as the opportunity which crops up daily.

It is unfortunate that superior talent and superior men are so seldom united.

We should always forgive. We should forgive the repentant for their sake, the unrepentant for our sake.

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.

The world belongs to those who possess it, and is scorned by those to whom it should belong.

Many priceless things can be bought.

Distrust your judgment the moment you can discern the shadow of a personal motive in it.

You can sink so fast that you think you are flying.

Who doesn't know anything, has to believe everything.

We ask the poet: 'What subject have you chosen?' instead of: 'What subject has chosen you?

Accident is veiled necessity.

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

Age either transfigures or petrifies.

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

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

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

Deep learning doesn't shine.

One remains young as long as one can still learn, can still take on new habits, can bear contradictions.

The understanding of some men is clear, that of others brilliant. The former illumines its surroundings; the latter obscures them.

You stay young as long as you can learn, acquire new habits, and suffer contradictions.

What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible.

Do not fear the ones who argue, but rather those who are evasive.

None are so inconsiderate as those who demand nothing of life other than their own personal comfort.

One can acquire some virtues by feigning them for a long time.

An opinion may be controverted; a prejudice, never.

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.

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

Indifference of every kind is reprehensible, even indifference towards one's self.

Imaginary evils are incurable.

We can be wise from goodness and good from wisdom.

Parents forgive their children least readily for the faults they themselves instilled in them.

Without imagination, there is no goodness, no wisdom.

Conquer, but don't triumph.

A defeat borne with pride is also a victory.

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.

There is something so beautiful in trust that even the most hardened liar need feel a certain respect for those who confide in him.

Those who cannot remember clearly their own childhood are poor educators.

A book cannot easily be too bad for the general public, but may easily be too good.

One has to do good in order for it to exist in the world.

Many think they have a kind heart who have only weak nerves.

Where would the power of women be, were it not for the vanity of men?

It's bad enough when married people bore one another, but it's much worse when only one of them bores the other.

The wise man is seldom prudent.

"People's minds are trained largely at the expense of their hearts." This is not so; it is only that there are more educable minds than there are educable hearts.

The little bit of truth contained in many a lie is what makes them so terrible.

Do not consider yourself deprived because your dreams were not fulfilled; the truly deprived have never dreamed.

Only the thinking man lives his life, the thoughtless man's life passes him by.

Only those few people who practice it believe in goodness.

Even a stopped clock is right twice every day. After some years, it can boast of a long series of successes.

Not reading a beautiful book again because you've already read it, that is, as if you were not visiting a dear friend again because you know him already.

Many think that when they have confessed a fault there is no need of correcting it.

Passion is always suffering, even when gratified.

What you wish to do you are apt to think you ought to do.

There are very few honest friends--the demand is not particularly great.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

They understand but a little who understand only what can be explained.

When the time comes in which one could, the time has passed in which one can.

One thought cannot awake without awakening others.

The simplest and most familiar truth seems new and wonderful the instant we ourselves experience it for the first time.

Wit is an intermittent fountain; kindness is a perennial spring.

Consider well before you immerse yourself in solitude whether your own company will be good for you.

When art find no temple open, it takes refuge in the workshop.

To be young is delightful; to be old is comfortable.

The insignificant labor, the great create.

There is only one proof of ability - action.

Grace is the outcome of inward harmony.

To be satisfied with little is hard, to be satisfied with a lot is impossible.

Pity is love in undress.

There are times when to be reasonable is to be cowardly.

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

Kindness which is not inexhaustible does not deserve the name.

Be the first to say something obvious and achieve immortality.

Many a truth is the result of an error.

The greatest enemy of justice is privilege.

When curiosity turns to serious matters, it's called research.

Even virtue is an art; and even its devotees are divided into those who practise it and those who are merely amateurs.

Calmness is the graceful form of Confidence.

Have patience with the quarrelsomeness of the stupid. It is not easy to comprehend that one does not comprehend.

Misanthropy is a suit of armor lined with thorns.

If there be a faith that can move mountains, it is faith in one's own power.

Origins are of the greatest importance. We are almost reconciled to having a cold when we remember where we caught it.

Blessed is trust, for it blesses both those who have it to give and those who receive it.

Whenever two good people argue over principles, they are both right.

Never expect women to be sincere, so long as they are educated to think that their first aim in life is to please.

How wise must one be to be always kind.

Morals refine manners, as manners refine morals.

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom.

We usually learn to wait only when we have no longer anything to wait for.

No one is so eager to gain new experiences as he who doesn't know how to make use of the old ones.

We are not always even what we are most.

Generosity, to be perfect, should always be accompanied by a dash of humor.

Genius points the way, talent takes it.

Hatred is a prolific vice; envy, a barren vice.

Since the well-known victory over the hare by the tortoise, the descendants of the tortoise think themselves miracles of speed.

Consider once before you give, twice before you receive, and a thousand times before you ask.

I regret nothing, says arrogance; I will regret nothing, says inexperience.

Between being able to and actually doing something lies an ocean, and on its bottom rests all too often the wreck of willpower.

To have and not to give is often worse than to steal.

Nothing makes us more cowardly and unconscionable than the desire to be loved by everyone.

Most imitators attempt the inimitable.

Nowadays people are born to find fault. When they look at Achilles, they see only his heel.

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

There are more truths in a good book than its author meant to put in it.

The mediocre always feel as if they're fighting for their lives when confronted by the excellent.

Pain is the great teacher of mankind. Beneath its breath souls develop.

People more easily tolerate opposition than a contradiction

Unattainable wishes are often "pious." This seems to indicate that only profane wishes are fulfilled.

He who says patience, says courage, endurance, strength.

An intelligent woman has millions of born enemies... all the stupid men.

Fools usually know best that which the wise despair of ever comprehending.

He who has trusted where he ought not will surely mistrust where he ought not.

If there is a believe that is capable to move mountains it is the believe in our own strength.

Those who know nothing must believe everything.

That bad manners are so prevalent in the world is the fault of good manners.