1129 Quotes by Austrian authors

Austrian quotes tend to balance velvet melancholy with needle-fine wit: coffeehouse skepticism, Alpine pragmatism, and the sly warmth of Wiener Schmäh. They relish the provisional, Vergänglichkeit, yet seek clean lines, choosing understatement over flourish. Memory hums beneath the language: echoes of empire, village clocks, Danube fog, a toast at the Heuriger. Humor is dry, sometimes surgical; tenderness arrives late but exact. Expect clarity that questions itself, a moral sense trimmed to fit real weather, and a quiet insistence on measure, craft, and human scale.

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"A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring"

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher

Small: Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The only normal people are the one's you don't know very well"

Alfred Adler, Psychologist

"Morality is a venereal disease. Its primary stage is called virtue; its secondary stage, boredom; its tertiary stage, syphilis"

Karl Kraus, Writer

"There is no history of mankind, there are only many histories of all kinds of aspects of human life. And one of these is the history of political power. This is elevated into the history of the world"

Karl Popper, Philosopher

"Our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite"

Karl Popper, Philosopher

"If I remain healthy, I can win more races, but I don't think so much about setting new records. I'm already proud to have become the leading Austrian World Cup racer"

Hermann Maier, Athlete

"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"America is a mistake, a giant mistake"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"The human body is the best picture of the human soul"

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher

Small: Ludwig Wittgenstein

"If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done"

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher

Small: Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Death is really a great blessing for humanity, without it there could be no real progress. People who lived for ever would not only hamper and discourage the young, but they would themselves lack sufficient stimulus to be creative"

Alfred Adler, Psychologist

"Psychoanalysis is that mental illness for which it regards itself as therapy"

Karl Kraus, Writer

"For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews. It can also be other people"

Simon Wiesenthal, Activist

Small: Simon Wiesenthal

"For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing"

Simon Wiesenthal, Activist

Small: Simon Wiesenthal

"The negative side to globalization is that it wipes out entire economic systems and in doing so wipes out the accompanying culture"

Peter L. Berger, Sociologist

"Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it, is important when you need it"

Franz Grillparzer, Poet

"I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it"

Erwin Schrodinger, Scientist

"My scientific studies have afforded me great gratification; and I am convinced that it will not be long before the whole world acknowledges the results of my work"

Gregor Mendel, Scientist

"The first requisite of civilization is that of justice"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"The first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of civilization"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilization is built upon a renunciation of instinct"

Sigmund Freud, Psychologist

Small: Sigmund Freud

"By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired"

Franz Kafka, Novelist

Small: Franz Kafka

"May I kiss you then? On this miserable paper? I might as well open the window and kiss the night air"

Franz Kafka, Novelist

Small: Franz Kafka

"How can one take delight in the world unless one flees to it for refuge?"

Franz Kafka, Novelist

Small: Franz Kafka

"Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actor

Small: Arnold Schwarzenegger

"The common behavior of mankind is the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language"

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher

Small: Ludwig Wittgenstein

"I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves"

Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosopher

Small: Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation"

Alfred Adler, Psychologist

"Education is what most receive, many pass on, and few possess"

Karl Kraus, Writer

"To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm"

Friedrich August von Hayek, Economist

"There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive today... they are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters"

Simon Wiesenthal, Activist

Small: Simon Wiesenthal

"Justice for crimes against humanity must have no limitations"

Simon Wiesenthal, Activist

Small: Simon Wiesenthal

"Those who promise us paradise on earth never produced anything but a hell"

Karl Popper, Philosopher

"In so far as a scientific statement speaks about reality, it must be falsifiable; and in so far as it is not falsifiable, it does not speak about reality"

Karl Popper, Philosopher

"What is to give light must endure burning"

Viktor E. Frankl, Psychologist

"The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments"

Ludwig von Mises, Economist

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

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Novelist

"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training"

Anna Freud, Psychologist

Small: Anna Freud

"Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness"

Wilhelm Reich, Psychologist

Small: Wilhelm Reich

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