I have read Lavater's Aphorisms on Man with attention, and find in many of them the voice of true wisdom — and in others, the voice of a man who mistakes prudence for virtue.

Aphorism: "Know, in the first place, that mankind agree in essence, as they do in their limbs and senses."

Blake: Aye — this is true philosophy. But Reynolds would have us believe that the essence of Art is conformity to a general idea. The essence of Man is particularity.

Aphorism: "The greatest of characters, no doubt, was he, who, free of all trifling accidental helps, could see objects through one grand immutable medium, always at hand, and proof against illusion and time, reflected by every object, and invariably traced through all the fluctuation of things."

Blake: This is the vision of the Prophet. This is what I see when I look at a common thistle — Eternity in a grain of sand.

Aphorism: "Who has not observed that the voice, the look, the gesture of him who relates a transaction, give the true character of it — who has not found that many a narrative was half believed for no other reason than that it was told in a manner which carried conviction?"

Blake: True. The manner of telling a thing is the thing itself. Execution is the Chariot of Genius.

Aphorism: "The sublimest act is to set another before you."

Blake: I mark this with ! — for it is the foundation of all virtue. He who does not prefer another to himself is selfish, and Selfishness is the cloak of Villainy.

Aphorism: "He alone has energy that cannot be deprived of it."

Blake: Energy is Eternal Delight. He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.

Aphorism: "The enemy of art is the enemy of nature."

Blake: I agree entirely. Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death. God is Jesus.

Aphorism: "Between the best and the worst there are, you say, innumerable degrees — and you are right; but admit that I am right too in saying that the best and the worst differ only in one thing — in the object of their love."

Blake: Excellent. This is a golden sentence. All love is holy. A man can only be judged by the object of his desire.