From the 2000 book Xenophobe’s Guide to the Austrians by Louis James: “Grumbling and whingeing are staples of Austrian, especially Viennese, conversation. (…) The more refined forms of grumbling are transmuted into philosophical pessimism, the Austrian’s talent for which is part and parcel of his faculty of self-diagnosis.”

“A vivid description of professional gloom is provided by the futurologist Professor Millendorfer, who once remarked that the outlook for Austria in 20 or 50 years was good, provided the nation managed to survive the next five years.” (p. 86)