Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

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

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

Conquer, but don’t triumph.

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.

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

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

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

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

What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible.

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.

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

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

Nobody knows enough, but many know too much.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

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.

So soon as a fashion is universal, it is out of date.

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

Imaginary evils are incurable.

Privilege is the greatest enemy of right.