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

Johann Kaspar Lavater (15 November 1741 – 2 January 1801) was a Swiss poet, writer, philosopher and theologian.

Quotes

Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity.
  • Where there is much pretension, much has been borrowed: nature never pretends.
    • As quoted in Mental Recreation; or, Select Maxims (1831), p. 234
  • The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.
    • As quoted in Many Thoughts of Many Minds (1862) edited by Henry Southgate, p. 290
  • Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity.
    • Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 4
  • 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.
    • Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 246
  • Never tell evil of a man, if you do not know it for certainty, and if you know it for a certainty, then ask yourself, 'Why should I tell it?'
    • As quoted in What Billingsgate Thought: A Country Gentleman's Views on Snobbery (1919) by William Alexander Newman Dorland

Aphorisms on Man (c. 1788)

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.
  • 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.
    • No. 23
  • 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.
    • No. 84
  • Say not you know another entirely, till you have divided an inheritance with him.
    • No. 157
  • Have you ever seen a pedant with a warm heart?
    • No. 260
  • If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic.
    • No. 282
  • 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.
    • No. 302
  • Him, who incessantly laughs in the street, you may commonly hear grumbling in his closet.
    • No. 305
  • Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who sees him not in man.
    • No. 398
  • Trust not him with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.
    • No. 449
  • Neatness begets order; but from order to taste there is the same difference as from taste to genius, or from love to friendship.
    • No. 583
  • The public seldom forgive twice.
    • No. 595
  • 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.
    • No. 609
  • 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.
    • No. 643
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