Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

You can’t be of help to everybody! Say the narrow-minded, and help nobody.

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

The greatest enemy of justice is privilege.

Freedom stretches as far as your self-control.

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

Bitter is the criticism for which, with the best of wills, we can derive no benefit.

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

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

How happy are the pessimists! What joy is their when they have proved there is no joy.

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

How wise must one be to be always kind.

What delights us in visible beauty is the invisible.

In youth we learn; in age we understand.

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

Kindness which is not inexhaustible does not deserve the name.

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

Nothing is so often irrevocably neglected as an opportunity of daily occurrence.

One thought cannot wake without awakening others.

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

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

Passion is always suffering, even when gratified.

The incurable ills are the imaginary ills.

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

The wise man is seldom prudent.

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