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Fools Learn Nothing From Wise Men, But Wise Men Learn Much From Fools.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Fools Learn Nothing From

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Fools Learn Nothing From Wise Men, But Wise Men Learn Much From Fools.

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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.

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

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

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

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.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

The True Friend Of Truth And Good Loves Them Under All Forms, But He Loves Them Most Under The Most Simple Form.

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.

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

Loudness Is Impotence.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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.

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.

When You Doubt Between Words, Use The Plainest, The Commonest, The Most Idiomatic. Eschew Fine Words As You Would Rouge; Love Simple Ones As You Would The Native Roses On Your Cheek.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

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

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.

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

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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

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

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

There Are Three Classes Of Men; The Retrograde, The Stationary And The Progressive.

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

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

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

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

Who Values Gold Above All, Considers All Else As Trifling.

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

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

Fools Learn Nothing From Wise Men, But Wise Men Learn Much From Fools.

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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

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.

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

Indiscretion, Rashness, Falsehood, Levity, And Malice, Produce Each Other.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

A Fop Of Fashion Is The Mercer's Friend, The Tailor's Fool, And His Own Foe.

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?

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.

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

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

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

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

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.

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

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

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

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

Where Consequence Ceases, There Folly, Restlessness And Misery Begin.

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

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.

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

The Loss Of Taste For What Is Right Is Loss Of All Right Taste.

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.

The Obstinacy Of The Indolent And Weak Is Less Conquerable Than That Of The Fiery And Bold.

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

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.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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.

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

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.

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

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

As A Man's Salutations, So Is The Total Of His Character; In Nothing Do We Lay Ourselves So Open As In Our Manner Of Meeting And Salutation.

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

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

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

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.

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

Strange That Cowards Cannot See That Their Greatest Safety Lies In Dauntless Courage.

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

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

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.

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

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

Who Makes Quick Use Of The Moment Is A Genius Of Prudence.

Use It Or Lose It

Existence Is Self-enjoyment, By Means Of Some Object Distinct From Ourselves.

He Who Attempts To Make Others Believe In Means Which He Himself Despises Is A Puffer; He Who Makes Use Of More Means Than He Knows To Be Necessary Is A Quack; And He Who Ascribes To Those Means A Greater Efficacy Than His Own Experience Warrants Is An Impostor.

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.

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

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?

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

The More Uniform A Man's Voice, Step, Manner Of Conversation, Handwriting--the More Quiet, Uniform, Settled, His Actions, His Character.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

Thinkers Are Scarce As Gold; But He Whose Thoughts Embrace All His Subject, And Who Pursues It Uninterruptedly And Fearless Of Consequences, Is A Diamond Of Enormous Size.

The Enemy Of Art Is The Enemy Of Nature; Art Is Nothing But The Highest Sagacity And Exertion Of Human Nature; And What Nature Will He Honour Who Honours Not The Human?

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

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

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

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.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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.

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

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

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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.

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.

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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

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

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

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

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

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

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

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

The Freer You Feel Yourself In The Presence Of Another, The More Free Is He...

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

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

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

Procrastination

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

The Miser Robs Himself.

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Hatred And Love

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

She Neglects Her Heart Who Too Closely Studies Her Glass.

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Do Not Believe That A Book Is Good, If In Reading It Thou Dost Not Become More Contented With Thy Existence, If It Does Not Rouse Up In Thee Most Generous Feelings.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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.

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

Nothing Is So Pregnant As Cruelty; So Multifarious, So Rapid, So Ever Teeming A Mother Is Unknown To The Animal Kingdom; Each Of Her Experiments Provokes Another And Refines Upon The Last; Though Always Progressive, Yet Always Remote From The End.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Who Despises All That Is Despicable Is Made To Be Impressed With All That Is Grand.

The Worst Of All Knaves Are Those Who Can Mimic Their Former Honesty.

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

The Prudent See Only The Difficulties, The Bold Only The Advantages, Of A Great Enterprise; The Hero Sees Both; Diminishes The Former And Makes The Latter Preponderate, And So Conquers.

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

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