Aphorisms

by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, David Scrase

This book contains the entire collection of 582 aphorisms which the nineteenth-century Austrian writer Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) published in a number of expanded editions of Aphorismen starting in 1880. While this author also wrote poems, plays, novels, and novellas, she is known today particularly for her insightful aphorisms. Stating that "An aphorism is the last link in a long chain of thought," she presents intellectually stimulating and socially engaging short texts dealing with various aspects of human nature, morality, ethics, knowledge, education, politics, youth, age, friendship, love, marriage, sexual politics, and both liberal and female emancipation.

85 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach was an Austrian writer. Noted for her excellent psychological novels, she is regarded—together with Ferdinand von Saar—as one of the most important German-language writers of the latter portion of the 19th century.

She was born at the castle of Dubský (Graf von Třebomyslice) family in Zdislavice near Kroměříž in Moravia, Czech Republic, and died in Vienna, Austria.

She is credited with the famous aphorism "even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Reviews

[Gretchen Rubin]

How I love aphorisms! I read them constantly, I collect them. How had I never heard of Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach? This collection is short yet extraordinary. I copied so many of them into my master document.

[Kallia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πραγματικά εντυπωσιακή και χρήσιμη συλλογή για οποιον αρέσκεται, οπως εγώ, στο είδος.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this while trawling a used bookstore on the weekend. It's a skinny book, but satisfying. It included a number of good aphorisms that I can get behind, like -

*Thoughtlessness has ruined more good reputations than ill will.
*Clumsy flattery can be more humiliating than well-founded reproach.
*The hungry are more easily helped than the overfed.
*To have and not give is in some cases worse than stealing.

There were also a couple that I couldn't get behind, like -
*The smaller the grain of sand, the more it considers itself the center of the world. (huh?)

And there were also some that were kind of hokey, such as -
*Don't call yourself poor when your dreams don't come true; the only truly poor are those who've never dreamed. (aaaaahh! runs screaming from the room)

All in all I'm giving it four stars for the hours or aphoristic puzzling and translation fun it provided.

[Ines · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Man kann nicht allen helfen! sagt der Engherzige und - hilft keinem."

[Maxwell Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gonna have to go through this again, but I enjoyed this book. Some gems for sure, but a lot that doesn’t feel all that thought provoking.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book full of sharp, witty observations into life. One of the few books that I find morally uplifting and with just enough humor to coerce a smile from the reader. When Franz Kafka noted "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us", he was referring to books like this one.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nessuno scrive come un Dio che non abbia sofferto come un cane." (p. 36)

[Alfred · Rating 4 out of 5]

»Heitere Resignation - es gibt nichts Schöneres.«