Johann Kaspar Lavater Quotes

The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice,' but integrity.

Men are guided less by conscience than by glory; and yet the shortest way to glory is to be guided by conscience.

The more virtuous any man is, the less easily does he suspect others to be vicious.

Birth means nothing where there is no virtue.

Integrity is hard work. I do think the internet makes it harder because of the temptations of performance. You can perform and have integrity, but it's easier just to perform. So the temptations of social media lead to some dissonance.

Have you ever asked yourself why one person is honorable and another dishonorable; why one is honest, another dishonest; why one is moral, another immoral? Most individuals do not intend to be dishonest, dishonorable, or immoral. They seem to allow their characters to erode by a series of rationalizations, lies, and compromises. Then when grave temptation presents itself, they haven't the strength of character to do what they know to be right.

If reason dominates in man, he rises higher than angels. If lust overpowers man, he descends lower than the beast.

Vices and virtues are of a strange nature, for the more we have, the fewer we think we have.

Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.

Modesty is the color of virtue.

A good man can be stupid and still be good. But a bad man must have brains.

It's obviously a lot harder to try and be a good guy than it is to be a bad guy. The world is a fundamentally evil place, it seems like. So in order to be a good person, you have to fight temptation and vice.

I try not to do anything that's immoral.

Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.

A man is not honest simply because he never had a chance to steal

I myself have constantly refused to print anything that might countenance vice or promote immorality, though … I might have gotten much money.

The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.

If I had walked into a dry cleaning store, and I had looked over, and the register drawer was open with money inside, I wouldn't have taken it.

Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent.

Integrity in the Moment of Choice: Quality of life depends on what happens in the space between stimulus and response.

We should make virtue our master, not our servant.

For a good man fame is always a problem.

A man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong - acting the part of a good man or of a bad.

With morality we correct the mistakes of our instincts, and with love we correct the mistakes of our morals.

I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour, and who then asketh: "Am I a dishonest player?" - for he is willing to succumb.