“Wags are beggars in the realm of the intellect; they live on alms tossed to them by fortune—on flashes of wit.”

— Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Der Witzling ist der Bettler im Reich der Geister; er lebt von Almosen, die das Glück ihm zuwirft—von Einfällen.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 67.

Original

Der Witzling ist der Bettler im Reich der Geister; er lebt von Almosen, die das Glück ihm zuwirft—von Einfällen.

Aphorisms (1880/1893)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 3, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Wags are beggars in the realm of the intellect; they live on alms tossed to them by fortune—on flashes of wit." by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach?

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 81

Austrian writer 1830–1916

Related quotes

“So, ministers say that they teach charity. This is natural. They live on alms. All beggars teach that others should give.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

The Truth (1896)

“2144. He that has no Fools, Knaves nor Beggars in his Family, was begot by a Flash of Lightning.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“I saw rich beggars and poor beggars, proud beggars and humble beggars, fat beggars and thin beggars, healthy beggars and sick beggars, whole beggars and crippled beggars, wise beggars and stupid beggars. I saw amateur beggars and professional beggars. A professional beggar is a beggar who begs for a living.”

William Saroyan (1908–1981) American writer

"The Beggars" in The William Saroyan Reader (1958)

“What if I should discover that the poorest of the beggars and the most impudent of offenders are all within me; and that I stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I, myself, am the enemy who must be loved -- what then?”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

“No one is satisfied with his fortune, nor dissatisfied with his intellect.”

Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières (1638–1694) French writer

Nul n'est content de sa fortune;
Ni mécontent de son esprit.
from Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 690

“Wit is the appearance, the external flash of imagination. Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism.”

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829) German poet, critic and scholar

Aphorism 26, as translated in Dialogue on Poetry and Literary Aphorisms (1968), p. 151
Variant translation:
Wit is the appearance, the external flash, of fantasy. Hence its divinity and the similarity to the wit of mysticism.
As translated in The Early Political Writings of the German Romantics (1996) edited by Frederick C. Beiser, p. 131