Johann K. Lavater

Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.

Do all the other things, the ambitious things-travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes…but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.

You have to know how to defend yourself.

You are the fever that never broke, the name stuck in my throat. You are every letter of every word in every poem I ever wrote.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

It is true that I am often startled and even angered and repulsed by the strange directions and provocative content of new forms that seem to pop up every few months.

All punishments by which the human body might be maimed are barbarbarism.

Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.

I don’t expect to retire. Every man must work, that’s his natural destiny.

Necessity is the plea of every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.

Honesty is a very expensive gift, Don’t expect it from cheap people.

Be your authentic self. Your authentic self is who you are when you have no fear of judgment, or before the world starts pushing you around and telling you who you’re supposed to be. Your fictional self is who you are when you have a social mask on to please everyone else. Give yourself permission to be your authentic self.

When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want.