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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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He Who Attempts To

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

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.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

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

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

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

She Neglects Her Heart Who Too Closely Studies Her Glass.

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

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

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

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

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

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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

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

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.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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.

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.

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

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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

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

Hatred And Love

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 Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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

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

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

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

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.

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

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

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

Avoid Him Who From Mere Curiosity Asks Three Questions Running About A Thing That Cannot Interest Him.

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

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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?

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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

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.

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

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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.

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

What Is The Elevation Of The Soul? A Prompt, Delicate, Certain Feeling For All That Is Beautiful, All That Is Grand; A Quick Resolution To Do The Greatest Good By The Smallest Means; A Great Benevolence Joined To A Great Strength And Great Humility.

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.

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

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

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Use It Or Lose It

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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

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

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

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.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

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 Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

The Miser Robs Himself.

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

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

Procrastination

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

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

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

Loudness Is Impotence.

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

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.

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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

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.

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

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.

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

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

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

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

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

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

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

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.

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