Aphorisms
A source page for quotes linked to Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach.
“Wenn es einen Glauben gibt, der Berge versetzen kann, so ist es der Glaube an die eigene Kraft.”
“How happy are the pessimists! What joy is theirs when they have proved there is no joy.”
“When curiosity turns to serious matters, it's called research.”
“The mediocre always feel as if they're fighting for their lives when confronted by the excellent.”
“The greatest enemy of justice is privilege.”
“There are very few honest friends--the demand is not particularly great.”
“Wit is an intermittent fountain; kindness is a perennial spring.”
“Pain is the great teacher of mankind. Beneath its breath souls develop.”
“Where would the power of women be, were it not for the vanity of men?”
“Fools usually know best that which the wise despair of ever comprehending.”
“We are valued wither too highly or not high enough; we are never taken at our real worth.”
“Enthusiasm does not always speak for those who arouse it, but always for those who experience it.”
“Misanthropy is a suit of armor lined with thorns.”
“Indifference of every kind is reprehensible, even indifference towards one's self.”
“Nothing makes us more cowardly and unconscionable than the desire to be loved by everyone.”
“The world belongs to those who possess it, and is scorned by those to whom it should belong.”
“Believe flatterers and you're lost; believe your enemies and you despair.”
“A defeat borne with pride is also a victory.”
“The moral code which was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for our children.”
“However much you paid for a beautiful illusion, you got a bargain.”
“Nothing is so irretrievably missed as an opportunity we encounter every day.”
“That bad manners are so prevalent in the world is the fault of good manners.”
“Kindness which is not inexhaustible does not deserve the name.”
“We usually learn to wait only when we have no longer anything to wait for.”
“It is unfortunate that superior talent and superior men are so seldom united.”