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

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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The More Unharmonious And

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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

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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.

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

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

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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

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.

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

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.

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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.

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

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

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

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 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.

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

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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

Use It Or Lose It

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived 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.

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

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

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

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The Miser Robs Himself.

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

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

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

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

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.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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

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

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

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

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

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

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

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

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

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

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

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

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?

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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

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.

Loudness Is Impotence.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

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

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

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

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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 Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

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

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.

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

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

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.

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

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

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 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?

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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.

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

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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

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

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

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.

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

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

Hatred And Love

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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