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We can see nothing whatever of the soul unless it is visible in the expression of the countenance; one might call the faces at a large assembly of people a history of the human soul written in a kind of Chinese ideograms.
Georg C. Lichtenberg
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The expression on our faces reflects the deeper aspects of our souls.

Georg C. Lichtenberg suggests that the true essence of our souls can be interpreted through our facial expressions. By observing the faces of people in a crowd, one can perceive a narrative of human emotions and experiences, akin to reading a complex form of language that reveals our innermost thoughts and feelings.

Themes

SoulExpressionFacesHuman ExperienceEmotions

In practice

Example use cases

During a public speaking event, you might say this quote to emphasize the importance of body language.

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The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.
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The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.
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The noble simplicity in the works of nature only too often originates in the noble shortsightedness of him who observes it.
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Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war?
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