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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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What Is The Elevation

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

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

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

Good-humor Is Always A Success.

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.

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

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

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

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

The Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

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

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

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

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

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

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

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.

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.

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

The Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

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

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

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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

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.

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

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

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

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?

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.

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

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.

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

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

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 Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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

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

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

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

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 Is Fatal To Others Is So To Himself.

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

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.

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

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

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 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.

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

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

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

Half Talent Is No Talent.

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

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

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

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Use It Or Lose It

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

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.

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

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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

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

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

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

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.

Loudness Is Impotence.

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Who Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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

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

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

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

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.

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.

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

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.

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

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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

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

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

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 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.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

The Miser Robs Himself.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

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.

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

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

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Hatred And Love

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

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