Quotes from Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The sympathy of most people consists of a mixture of good-humour, curiosity, and self-importance.

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

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

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

Those whom we support hold us up in life.

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

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

Imaginary evils are incurable.

Nothing is less promising than precocity. A young thistle is more like a future tree than is a young oak.

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

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

Conquer, but don't triumph.

Without imagination, there is no goodness, no wisdom.

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.

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

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

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