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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.

-Johann Kaspar Lavater

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Whenever A Man Undergoes

Johann Kaspar Lavater

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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.

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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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Sensibility Is The Power Of Woman.

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

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?

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

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

He Who Purposely Cheats His Friend Would Cheat His God.

The Miser Robs Himself.

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

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

Procrastination

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

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 Affects Useless Singularities Has Surely A Little Mind.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Calmness Of Will Is A Sign Of Grandeur.

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

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 Conscience Is More Wise Than Science.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

As Your Enemies And Your Friends, So Are You

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

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

Loudness Is Impotence.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Let The Degree Of Egotism Be The Measure Of Confidence.

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

Use It Or Lose It

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.

Softness Of Smile Indicates Softness Of Character.

Conscience Is Wiser Than Science.

Decided Ends Are Sure Signs Of A Decided Character.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Wisdom Is The Repose Of The Mind.

He Also Has Energy Who Cannot Be Deprived Of It.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have You Ever Seen A Pedant With A Warm Heart?

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

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 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.

Women Are Proverbially Credulous.

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

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

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

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

Intuition Is The Clear Conception Of The Whole At Once.

Humility With Energy Is Often Mistaken For Pride.

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

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

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.

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

Borrowed Wit Is The Poorest Wit.

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

Vanity And Rudeness Are Seldom Seen Together.

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

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 Humblest Star Twinkles Most In The Darkest Night.

No Communication Or Gift Can Exhaust Genius Or Impoverish Charity.

A Great Passion Has No Partner.

Thinkers Are As Scarce As Gold.

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.

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

Hatred And Love

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

Conscience Is The Sentinel Of Virtue.

Words Are The Wings Of Actions.

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

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

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

Malice Is Poisoned By Her Own Venom.

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.

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

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

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

The Immoderate Cannot Laugh Moderately.

Where Pride Begins, Love Ceases.

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

Dress Is An Index Of Your Contents.

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?

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.

Too Much Gravity Argues A Shallow Mind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Horse-laugh Indicates Brutality Of Character.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

The Public Seldom Forgive Twice.

God Protects Those He Loves From Worthless Reading.

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.

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

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

Who Gives A Trifle Meanly Is Meaner Than The Trifle.

A Sneer Is Often The Sign Of Heartless Malignity.

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

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.

All Finery Is A Sign Of Littleness.

She Neglects Her Heart Who Too Closely Studies Her Glass.

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

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

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.

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 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.

Neither Refinement Nor Delicacy Is Indispensable To Produce Elegance.

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.

Stubbornness Is The Strength Of The Weak.

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

The Countenance Is More Eloquent Than The Tongue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He Scatters Enjoyment Who Can Enjoy Much.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

The Smiles That Encourage Severity Of Judgment Hide Malice And Insincerity.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 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?

Every Man Has His Devilish Minutes.

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 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.

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

The Worst Of Faces Still Is Human.

Airs Of Importance Are The Credentials Of Impotence.

Defeat Serves To Enlighten Us.

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.

And Still, Laughter Is Akin To Weeping.

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