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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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The Greatest Of Characters,

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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More From Johann Kaspar Lavater

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.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Loudness Is Impotence.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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.

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

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

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

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

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

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

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

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.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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

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.

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

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

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

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.

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

Procrastination

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

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

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

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

The Miser Robs Himself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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

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

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

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

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 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 Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

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

Hatred And Love

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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

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

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

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

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

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

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

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.

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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.

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

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

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

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.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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.

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

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

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

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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

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

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

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

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

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

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.

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

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

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

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

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

Use It Or Lose It

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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

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.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

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

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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

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.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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

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

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?

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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