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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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He Who Always Seeks

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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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.

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

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 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.

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

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

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

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

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

Just So Far As We Are Pleased At Finding Faults, Are We Displeased At Finding Perfection.

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

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

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

Loudness Is Impotence.

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

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

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

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

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

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

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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.

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.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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.

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

Use It Or Lose It

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

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

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.

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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

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

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

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?

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.

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

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

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.

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.

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

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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.

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

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.

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

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

True Philosophy Is That Which Renders Us To Ourselves, And All Others Who Surround Us, Better, And At The Same Time More Content, More Patient, More Calm And More Ready For All Decent And Pure Enjoyment.

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

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

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

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.

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?

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

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

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

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

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

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

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

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

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

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.

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.

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.

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

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.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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.

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

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

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

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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.

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

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

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

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.

Dependence On Others

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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

Hatred And Love

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

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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

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

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Procrastination

Those Who Speak Always And Those Who Never Speak Are Equally Unfit For Friendship. A Food Proportion Of The Talent Of Listening And Speaking Is The Base Of Social Virtues.

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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.

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.

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

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

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

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

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

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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.

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

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.

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

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