Johann Kaspar (or Caspar) Lavater (15 November 1741 – 2 January 1801) was a Swiss poet, writer, philosopher, physiognomist and theologian.
Trust him little who praise all, him less who censures all and him least who is indifferent about all.
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.
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.
Dress is an index of your contents.
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 mingled incentives which lead to action are often too subtle and lie too deep for us to analyze.
Just so far as we are pleased at finding faults, are we displeased at finding perfection.
You can depend on no man, on no friend, but him who can depend on 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.
Who gives a trifle meanly is meaner than the trifle.
He who seldom speaks, and with one calm well-timed word can strike dumb the loquacious, is a genius or a hero.
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.
Conscience is wiser than science.
The conscience is more wise than science.
Be not the fourth friend of him who had three before and lost them.
A fop of fashion is the mercer's friend, the tailor's fool, and his own foe.
He who, silent, loves to be with us - he who loves us in our silence - has touched one of the keys that ravish hearts.
He knows not how to speak who cannot be silent; still less how to act with vigor and decision. Who hastens to the end is silent; loudness is impotence.
He scatters enjoyment who can enjoy much.
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.