MARIE VON EBNER-ESCHENBACH

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

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

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

What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible.

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

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.

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

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

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

So soon as a fashion is universal, it is out of date.

Nobody knows enough, but many know too much.

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

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

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.

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

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

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.

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

Imaginary evils are incurable.

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

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

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

There is only one proof of ability - action.

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