Quotes from Johann Kaspar Lavater

He submits to be seen through a microscope, who suffers himself to be caught in a fit of passion.

Have you ever seen a pedant with a warm heart?

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.

There are three classes of men; the retrograde, the stationary and the progressive.

He knows very little of mankind who expects, by any facts or reasoning, to convince a determined party man.

Have I done aught of value to my fellow-men? Then have I done much for myself.

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.

Desire is the uneasiness a man finds in himself upon the absence of anything whose present enjoyment carries the idea of delight with it.

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.

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 more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.

It is one of my favorite thoughts that God manifests Himself to men in all the wise, good, humble, generous, great, and magnanimous men.

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.

As man's love or hatred, so he. Love and hatred exist only personified.

Fools learn nothing from wise men, but wise men learn much from fools.

As the interest of man, so his God - as his God, so he.

Three things characterize man: person, fate, merit--the harmony of these constitutes real grandeur.

Say not you know another entirely, till you have divided an inheritance with him.

If you wish to appear agreeable in society, you must consent to be taught many things which you already know.

He surely is most in need of another's patience, who has none of his own.

Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who sees him not in man.

God protects those he loves from worthless reading.

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 prorogues the honesty of today till to-morrow will probably prorogue his to-morrows to eternity.