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Depend On No Man, On No Friend But Him Who Can Depend On Himself. He Only Who Acts Conscientiously Toward Himself, Will Act So Toward Others.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Depend On No Man,

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Depend On No Man, On No Friend But Him Who Can Depend On Himself. He Only Who Acts Conscientiously Toward Himself, Will Act So Toward Others.

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Dependence On Others

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Superstition Always Inspires Littleness, Religion Grandeur Of Mind; The Superstitious Raises Beings Inferior To Himself To Deities.

Trust Him With None Of Thy Individualities Who Is, Or Pretends To Be, Two Things At Once.

He Who, When Called Upon To Speak A Disagreeable Truth, Tells It Boldly And Has Done Is Both Bolder And Milder Than He Who Nibbles In A Low Voice And Never Ceases Nibbling.

It Is Possible That A Wise And Good Man May Be Prevailed On To Game; But It Is Impossi∣ble That A Professed Gamester Should Be A Wise And Good Man.

A Beautiful Smile Is To The Female Countenance What The Sunbeam Is To The Landscape; It Embellishes An Inferior Face And Redeems An Ugly One.

Where There Is Much Pretension, Much Has Been Borrowed; Nature Never Pretends.

True Genius Repeats Itself Forever, And Never Repeats Itself--one Ever Varied Sense Beams Novelty And Unity On All.

The Great Rule Of Moral Conduct Is Next To God, Respect Time.

Half Talent Is No Talent.

Take Here The Grand Secret; If Not Of Pleasing All, Yet Of Displeasing None, And Court Mediocrity, Avoid Originality, And Sacrifice To Fashion.

Man Without Religion Is A Diseased Creature, Who Would Persuade Himself He Is Well And Needs Not A Physician; But Woman Without Religion Is Raging And Monstrous.

The Quicker, The Louder, The Applause With Which Another Tries To Gain You Over To His Purpose - The Bitterer His Censure If He Miss His Aim.

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

Who Knows Whence He Comes, Where He Is, And Whither He Tends, He, And He Alone, Is Wise.

If You Mean To Know Yourself, Interline Such Of These Aphorisms As Affect You Agreeably In Reading, And Set A Mark To Such As Left A Sense Of Uneasiness With You; And Then Show Your Copy To Whom You Please.

He Knows Very Little Of Mankind Who Expects, By Any Facts Or Reasoning, To Convince A Determined Party Man.

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

Let None Turn Over Books, Or Roam The Stars In Quest Of God, Who Sees Him Not In Man.

Who Has A Daring Eye Tell Downright Truths And Downright Lies.

Who In The Same Given Time Can Produce More Than Others Has Vigor; Who Can Produce More And Better, Has Talents; Who Can Produce What None Else Can, Has Genius.

Mistrust The Man Who Finds Everything Good, The Man Who Finds Everything Evil And Still More The Man Who Is Indifferent To Everything.

He, Who Boldly Interposes Between A Merciless Censor And His Prey, Is A Man Of Vigor: And He Who, Mildly Wise, Without Wounding, Convinces Him Of His Error, Commands Our Veneration.

There Is A Manner Of Forgiveness So Divine That You Are Ready To Embrace The Offender For Having Called It Forth.

A Gift--its Kind, Its Value And Appearance; The Silence Or The Pomp That Attends It; The Style In Which It Reaches You--may Decide The Dignity Or Vulgarity Of The Giver.

He Who Sedulously Attends, Pointedly Asks, Calmly Speaks, Coolly Answers And Ceases When He Has No More To Say Is In Possession Of Some Of The Best Requisites Of Man

As You Treat Your Body, So Your House, Your Domestics, Your Enemies, Your Friends - Dress Is A Table Of Your Contents.

He Who Is Passionate And Hasty Is Generally Honest. It Is Your Cool, Dissembling Hypocrite Of Whom You Should Beware.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

Neatness Begets Order; But From Order To Taste There Is The Same Difference As From Taste To Genius, Or From Love To Friendship.

Who Is Respectable When Thinking Himself Alone And Free From Observation Will Be So Before The Eye Of All The World.

How Few Our Real Wants, And How Vast Our Imaginary Ones!

The Wrath That On Conviction Subsides Into Mildness, Is The Wrath Of A Generous Mind.

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

If You Wish To Appear Agreeable In Society, You Must Consent To Be Taught Many Things Which You Already Know.

Venerate Four Characters: The Sanguine Who Has Checked Volatility And The Rage For Pleasure; The Choleric Who Has Subdued Passion And Pride; The Phlegmatic Emerged From Indolence; And The Melancholy Who Has Dismissed Avarice, Suspicion And Asperity.

The Man Who Loves With His Whole Heart Truth Will Love Still More He Who Suffers For Truth.

It Is A Poor Wit Who Lives By Borrowing The Words, Decisions, Mien, Inventions And Actions Of Others.

Joy And Grief Decide Character. What Exalts Prosperity? What Imbitters Grief? What Leaves Us Indifferent? What Interests Us? As The Interest Of Man, So His God - As His God, So He.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

Vociferation And Calmness Of Character Seldom Meet In The Same Person.

There Is No Mortal Truly Wise And Restless At Once; Wisdom Is The Repose Of Minds.

The Manner Of Giving Shows The Character Of The Giver, More Than The Gift Itself.

True Love, Like The Eye, Can Bear No Flaw.

A Single Spark Of Occasion Discharges The Child Of Passions Into A Thousand Crackers Of Desire.

He Who Always Prefaces His Tale With Laughter, Is Poised Between Impertinence And Folly.

Man Is Forever The Same; The Same Under Every Form, In All Situations And Relations That Admit Of Free And Unrestrained Exertion. The Same Regard Which You Have For Yourself, You Have For Others, For Nature, For The Invisible ... Which You Call God.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

Modesty Is Silent When It Would Be Improper To Speak; The Humble, Without Being Called Upon, Never Recollects To Say Anything Of Himself.

Learn The Value Of A Man's Words And Expressions, And You Know Him. Each Man Has A Measure Of His Own For Everything; This He Offers You Inadvertently In His Words. He Who Has A Superlative For Everything Wants A Measure For The Great Or Small.

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

His Calumny Is Not Only The Greatest Benefit A Rogue Can Confer On Us, But The Only Service He Will Perform For Nothing.

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

What Do I Owe To My Times, To My Country, To My Neighbors, To My Friends? Such Are The Questions Which A Virtuous Man Ought Often To Ask Himself.

Before Thou Callest A Man Hero Or Genius, Investigate Whether His Exertion Has Features Of Indelibility; For All That Is Celestial, All Genius, Is The Offspring Of Immortality.

Dread More The Blunderer's Friendship Than The Calumniator's Enmity.

Many Very Intelligent Agreeable Persons Have Warts On The Forehead, Not Brown, Nor Very Large, Between The Eyebrows, Which Have Nothing In Them Offensive Or Disgusting. - But A Large Brown Wart On The Upper Lip, Especially When It Is Bristly, Will Be Found In No Person Who Is Not Defective In Something Essential, Or At Least Remarkable For Some Conspicuous Failing.

Be Neither Too Early In The Fashion, Nor Too Long Out Of It; Nor At Any Time In The Extremes Of It.

You Can Depend On No Man, On No Friend, But Him Who Can Depend On Himself.

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

He Who, Silent, Loves To Be With Us - He Who Loves Us In Our Silence - Has Touched One Of The Keys That Ravish Hearts.

The Discovery Of Truth, By Slow Progressive Meditation, Is Wisdom. - Intuition Of Truth, Not Preceded By Perceptible Meditation, Is Genius.

Close Thine Ear Against Him That Shall Open His Mouth Secretly Against Another. If Thou Receivest Not His Words, They Fly Back And Wound The Reporter. If Thou Dost Receive Them, They Fly Forward And Wound The Receiver.

The Affectation Of Sanctity Is A Blotch On The Face Of Piety.

The Procrastinator Is Not Only Indolent And Weak, But Commonly, False, Too; Most Of The Weak Are False.

Procrastination

He, Who Cannot Forgive A Trespass Of Malice To His Enemy, Has Never Yet Tasted The Most Sublime Enjoyment Of Love.

He Who Freely Praises What He Means To Purchase, And He Who Enumerates The Faults Of What He Means To Sell, May Set Up A Partnership With Honesty.

Beware Of Biting Jests; The More Truth They Carry With Them, The Greater Wounds They Give, The Greater Smarts They Cause, And The Greater Scars They Leave Behind Them.

Be Certain That He Who Has Betrayed Thee Once Will Betray Thee Again.

Faces Are As Legible As Books, Only With These Circumstances To Recommend Them To Our Perusal, That They Are Read In Much Less Time, And Are Much Less Likely To Deceive Us.

He Who Goes Round About In His Requests Wants Commonly More Than He Chooses To Appear To Want.

An Entirely Honest Man, In The Severe Sense Of The Word, Exists No More Than An Entirely Dishonest Knave: The Best And The Worst Are Only Approximations Of Those Qualities. Who Are Those That Never Contradict Themselves? Yet Honesty Never Contradicts Itself: Who Are Those That Always Contradict Themselves? Yet Knavery Is Mere Self-contradiction. Thus The Knowledge Of Man Determines Not The Things Themselves, But Their Proportions, The Quan∣tum Of Congruities And Incongruities.

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

Kiss The Hand Of Him Who Can Renounce What He Has Publicly Taught When Convicted Of His Error, And Who, With Heartfelt Joy, Embraces Truth, Though With The Sacrifice Of Favourite Opinions.

Thousands Are Hated, While None Are Loved Without A Real Cause

The More Unharmonious And Inconsistent Your Objects Of Desire, The More Inconsequent, Inconstant, Unquiet, The More Ignoble, Idiotical, And Criminal Yourself.

Receive No Satisfaction For Premeditated Impertinence - Forget It, Forgive It - But Keep Him Inexorably At A Distance Who Of∣fered It.

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

Habit Is Altogether Too Arbitrary A Master For Me To Submit To.

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

The Greatest Of Characters, No Doubt, Would Be He, Who, Free Of All Trifling Accidental Helps, Could See Objects Through One Grand Immutable Medium, Always At Hand, And Proof Against Illusion And Time, Reflecting Every Object In Its True Shape And Colour Through All The Fluctuation Of Things.

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

Whatever Obscurities May Involve Religious Tenets, Humility And Love Constitute The Essence Of True Religion; The Humble Is Formed To Adore, The Loving To Associate With Eternal Love.

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

Evasions Are The Common Shelter Of The Hard-hearted, The False, And Impotent, When Called Upon To Assist; The Real Great Alone Plan Instantaneous Help, Even When Their Looks Or Words Presage Difficulties.

Who Gives Is Positive; Who Receives Is Negative; Still There Remains An Immense Class Of Mere Passives.

Happy The Heart To Whom God Has Given Enough Strength And Courage To Suffer For Him, To Find Happiness In Simplicity And The Happiness Of Others.

Trust Him Not With Your Secrets, Who, When Left Alone In Your Room, Turns Over Your Papers.

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

Desire Is The Uneasiness A Man Finds In Himself Upon The Absence Of Anything Whose Present Enjoyment Carries The Idea Of Delight With It.

Not Every One Who Has The Gift Of Speech Understands The Value Of Silence.

The Generous Person Is Always Just, And The Just Who Is Always Generous May, Unannounced, Approach The Throne Of Heaven.

You May Tell A Man Thou Art A Fiend, But Not Your Nose Wants Blowing; To Him Alone Who Can Bear A Thing Of That Kind, You May Tell All.

True Worth Is As Inevitably Discovered By The Facial Expression, As Its Opposite Is Sure To Be Clearly Represented There. The Human Face Is Nature's Tablet, The Truth Is Certainly Written Thereon.

Three Days Of Uninterrupted Company In A Vehicle Will Make You Better Acquainted With Another, Than One Hour's Conversation With Him Every Day For Three Years.

Avoid The Eye That Discovers With Rapidity The Bad, And Is Slow To See The Good.

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

He Who Has No Taste For Order, Will Be Often Wrong In His Judgment, And Seldom Considerate Or Conscientious In His Actions.

To Know Yourself You Have Only To Set Down A True Statement Of Those That Ever Loved Or Hated You.

What Knowledge Is There Of Which Man Is Capable That Is Not Founded On The Exterior,--the Relation That Exists Between Visible And Invisible, The Perceptible And The Imperceptible?

Truth, Wisdom, Love, Seek Reasons; Malice Only Seeks Causes.

Whenever A Man Undergoes A Considerable Change, In Consequence Of Being Observed By Others, Whenever He Assumes Another Gait, Another Language, Than What He Had Before He Thought Himself Observed, Be Advised To Guard Yourself Against Him.

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

The Craftiest Trickery Are Too Short And Ragged A Cloak To Cover A Bad Heart.

Who Begins With Severity, In Judging Of Another, Ends Commonly With Falsehood.

Who Will Sacrifice Nothing, And Enjoy All, Is A Fool.

Wishes Run Over In Loquacious Impotence, Will Presses On With Laconic Energy.

The Acquisition Of Will, For One Thing Exclusively, Presupposes Entire Acquaintance With Many Others.

The Ambitious Sacrifices All To What He Terms Honor, As The Miser All To Money.

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

The Mingled Incentives Which Lead To Action Are Often Too Subtle And Lie Too Deep For Us To Analyze.

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

Who, Under Pressing Temptations To Lie, Adheres To Truth, Nor To The Profane Betrays Aught Of A Sacred Trust, Is Near The Summit Of Wisdom And Virtue.

Who Forces Himself On Others Is To Himself A Load. Impetuous Curiosity Is Empty And Inconstant. Prying Intrusion May Be Suspected Of Whatever Is Little.

Be Not The Fourth Friend Of Him Who Had Three Before And Lost Them.

Who Partakes In Another's Joys Is A More Humane Character Than He Who Partakes In His Griefs.

He Who Comes From The Kitchen, Smells Of Its Smoke; And He Who Adheres To A Sect, Has Something Of Its Cant; The College Air Pursues The Student; And Dry Inhumanity Him Who Herds With Literary Pedants.

It Is One Of My Favorite Thoughts That God Manifests Himself To Men In All The Wise, Good, Humble, Generous, Great, And Magnanimous Men.

Say Not You Know Another Entirely Till You Have Divided An Inheritance With Him.

Who, In The Midst Of Just Provocation To Anger, Instantly Finds The Fit Word Which Settles All Around Him In Silence Is More Than Wise Or Just; He Is, Were He A Beggar, Of More Than Royal Blood, He Is Of Celestial Descent.

The Jealous Are Possessed By A Mad Devil And A Dull Spirit At The Same Time.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

He Knows Not How To Speak Who Cannot Be Silent; Still Less How To Act With Vigour And Decision. - Who Hastens To The End Is Silent: Loudness Is Impotence.

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

He Who, In Questions Of Right, Virtue, Or Duty, Sets Himself Above All Ridicule, Is Truly Great, And Shall Laugh In The End With Truer Mirth Than Ever He Was Laughed At.

He Who Can At All Times Sacrifice Pleasure To Duty Approaches Sublimity.

I Am Prejudiced In Favor Of Him Who, Without Impudence, Can Ask Boldly. He Has Faith In Humanity, And Faith In Himself. No One Who Is Not Accustomed To Giving Grandly Can Ask Nobly And With Boldness.

You May Depend Upon It That He Is A Good Man Whose Intimate Friends Are All Good, And Whose Enemies Are Decidedly Bad.

He Who Can Conceal His Joys, Is Greater Than He Who Can Hide His Griefs

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

Him, Who Incessantly Laughs In The Street, You May Commonly Hear Grumbling In His Closet.

As The Interest Of Man, So His God - As His God, So He.

Avoid Connecting Yourself With Characters Whose Good And Bad Sides Are Unmixed And Have Not Fermented Together; They Resemble Vials Of Vinegar And Oil; Or Palletts Set With Colors; They Are Either Excellent At Home And Insufferable Abroad, Or Intolerable Within Doors And Excellent In Public; They Are Unfit For Friendship, Merely Because Their Stamina, Their Ingredients Of Character Are Too Single, Too Much Apart; Let Them Be Finely Ground Up With Each Other, And They Are Incomparable.

He Can Feel No Little Wants Who Is In Pursuit Of Grandeur.

He Who Reforms Himself Has Done More Towards Reforming The Public Than A Crowd Or Noisy, Impotent Patriots.

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

There Are Many Kinds Of Smiles, Each Having A Distinct Character. Some Announce Goodness And Sweetness, Others Betray Sarcasm, Bitterness And Pride; Some Soften The Countenance By Their Languishing Tenderness, Others Brighten By Their Spiritual Vivacity.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

Action, Looks, Words, Steps, Form The Alphabet By Which You May Spell Character.

Who Recollects Distinctly His Past Adventures, Knows His Destiny To Come.

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

Each Particle Of Matter Is An Immensity, Each Leaf A World, Each Insect An Inexplicable Compendium.

Injustice Arises Either From Precipitation, Or Indolence, Or From A Mixture Of Both. - The Rapid And Slow Are Seldom Just; The Unjust Wait Either Not At All, Or Wait Too Long.

He Who Seeks To Imbitter Innocent Pleasure Has A Cancer In His Heart.

The More Any One Speaks Of Himself, The Less He Likes To Hear Another Talked Of.

The Most Stormy Ebullitions Of Passion, From Blasphemy To Murder, Are Less Terrific Than One Single Act Of Cool Villainy.

Don't Speak Evil Of Someone If You Don't Know For Certain, And If You Do Know Ask Yourself, Why Am I Telling It?

Copiousness And Simplicity, Variety And Unity, Constitute Real Greatness Of Character.

The Smiles That Encourage Severity Of Judgment Hide Malice And Insincerity.

In The Society Of Ladies, Want Of Sense Is Not So Unpardonable As Want Of Manners.

Who Is Open Without Levity; Generous Without Waste; Secret Without Craft; Humble Without Meanness; Bold Without Insolence; Cautious Without Anxiety; Regular, Yet Not Formal; Mild, Yet Not Timid; Firm, Yet Not Tyrannical - Is Made To Pass The Ordeal Of Honour, Friendship, Virtue.

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

All Affectation Is The Vain And Ridiculous Attempt Of Poverty To Appear Rich

The Proportion Of Genius To The Vulgar Is Like One To A Million.

To Realize That You Were Mistaken, Is Just The Acknowledgement , That You Are Wiser Today Than You Were Yesterday.

She Whom Smiles And Tears Make Equally Lovely May Command All Hearts.

Three Things Characterize Man: Person, Fate, Merit--the Harmony Of These Constitutes Real Grandeur.

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

Who Cuts Is Easily Wounded. The Readier You Are To Offend The Sooner You Are Offended.

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

He Has Oratory Who Ravishes His Hearers While He Forgets Himself.

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

Loudness Is Impotence.

All Belief That Does Not Make Us More Happy, More Free, More Loving, More Active, More Calm, Is, I Fear, A Mistaken And Superstitious Belief.

As Man's Love Or Hatred, So He. Love And Hatred Exist Only Personified.

Hatred And Love

Know In The First Place, That Mankind Agree In Essence, As They Do In Limbs And Senses.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

He Who Always Seeks More Light The More He Finds, And Finds More The More He Seeks, Is One Of The Few Happy Mortals Who Take And Give In Every Point Of Time. The Tide And Ebb Of Giving And Receiving Is The Sum Of Human Happiness, Which He Alone Enjoys Who Always Wishes To Acquire New Knowledge, And Always Finds It.

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

He Who Prorogues The Honesty Of Today Till To-morrow Will Probably Prorogue His To-morrows To Eternity.

The Proverbial Wisdom Of The Populace In The Street, On The Roads, And In The Markets Instructs The Ear Of Him Who Studies Man More Fully Than A Thousand Rules Ostentatiously Displayed.

Obstinacy Is The Strength Of The Weak. Firmness Founded Upon Principle, Upon The Truth And Right, Order And Law, Duty And Generosity, Is The Obstinacy Of Sages.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

The More Honesty A Man Has, The Less He Affects The Air Of A Saint.

Who Has Witnessed One Free And Unconstrained Act Of Yours, Has Witnessed All.

He Surely Is Most In Need Of Another's Patience, Who Has None Of His Own.

There Are No Friends More Inseparable Than Pride And Hardness Of Heart, Humility And Love, Falsehood And Impudence.

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

He Who Seldom Speaks, And With One Calm Well-timed Word Can Strike Dumb The Loquacious, Is A Genius Or A Hero.

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

The Policy Of Adapting One's Self To Circumstances Makes All Ways Smooth.

The Creditor Whose Appearance Gladdens The Heart Of A Debtor May Hold His Head In Sunbeams And His Foot On Storms.

The Cruelty Of The Effeminate Is More Dreadful Than That Or The Hardy.

He Is Incapable Of A Truly Good Action Who Finds Not A Pleasure In Contemplating The Good Actions Of Others.

Certain Trifling Flaws Sit As Disgracefully On A Character Of Elegance As A Ragged Button On A Court Dress.

He Submits Himself To Be Seen Through A Microscope, Who Suffers Himself To Be Caught In A Fit Of Passion.

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

He Whom Common, Gross, Or Stale Objects Allure, And When Obtained, Content, Is A Vulgar Being, Incapable Of Greatness In Thought Or Action.

Weaknesses, So Called, Are Nothing More Nor Less Than Vice In Disguise!

He Whose Pride Oppresses The Humble May Perhaps Be Humbled, But Will Never Be Humble.

The Less You Can Enjoy, The Poorer, The Scantier Yourself - The More You Can Enjoy, The Richer, The More Vigorous.

If You See One Cold And Vehement At The Same Time, Set Him Down For A Fanatic.

Have I Done Aught Of Value To My Fellow-men? Then Have I Done Much For Myself.

Trust Him Little Who Praise All, Him Less Who Censures All And Him Least Who Is Indifferent About All.

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