Background Image

...

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

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

To Know Yourself You

Johann Kaspar Lavater

...

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

Views: 9

Topic

More From Johann Kaspar Lavater

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

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

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

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.

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 Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

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

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

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

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.

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

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 Smiles That Encourage Severity Of Judgment Hide Malice And Insincerity.

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

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

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The Miser Robs Himself.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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.

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?

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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.

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

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

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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.

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

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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.

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

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

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, 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.

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

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.

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

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

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

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

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

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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.

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

Use It Or Lose It

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.

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

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

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.

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

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

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

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

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

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

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

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.

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 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.

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.

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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

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

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

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.

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

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

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.

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

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

Words Are The Wings Of 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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

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

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.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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.

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

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

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

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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

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

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

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

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

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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.

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

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

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.

She Neglects Her Heart Who Too Closely Studies Her Glass.

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

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

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

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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

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.

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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 Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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.

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

Trending Author

Tommy Lee Jones

Melissa Rosenberg

Category