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 beginning 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 engaged commentaries dealing with various aspects of human nature. Because of their universality, these thoughts by one of the best aphoristic writers in the German language have lost none of their relevance today.