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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Venerate Four Characters: The

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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

Loudness Is Impotence.

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

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

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

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

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.

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

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.

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

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

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

The Miser Robs Himself.

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

Who Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

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.

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

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

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.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

Who Trades In Contradictions Will Not Be Contradicted.

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.

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

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

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

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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

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

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

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.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

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

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

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.

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

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

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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.

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

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

Procrastination

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

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

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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.

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

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

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

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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.

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.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

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?

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

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.

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

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.

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.

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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.

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

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

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

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

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

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

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

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.

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Use It Or Lose It

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

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

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

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

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.

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

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

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

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.

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

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

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

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 Smiles That Encourage Severity Of Judgment Hide Malice And Insincerity.

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

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

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

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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 Can At All Times Sacrifice Pleasure To Duty Approaches Sublimity.

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.

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

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

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

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