The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, a Dialogue, Etc.Schopenhauer, Arthur
Philosophy
The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; Religion, a Dialogue, Etc.
Schopenhauer, Arthur
Philosophy; Religion
But gesture and movement are not nearly so good an index of intellectual
qualities as the face, the shape and size of the brain, the contraction
and movement of the features, and above all the eye,--from the small,
dull, dead-looking eye of a pig up through all gradations to the
irradiating, flashing eyes of a genius.
The look of good sense and prudence, even of the best kind, differs from
that of genius, in that the former bears the stamp of subjection to the
will, while the latter is free from it.
And therefore one can well believe the anecdote told by Squarzafichi in
his life of Petrarch, and taken from Joseph Brivius, a contemporary of
the poet, how once at the court of the Visconti, when Petrarch and other
noblemen and gentlemen were present, Galeazzo Visconti told his son, who
was then a mere boy (he was afterwards first Duke of Milan), to pick out
the wisest of the company; how the boy looked at them all for a little,
and then took Petrarch by the hand and led him up to his father, to the
great admiration of all present. For so clearly does nature set the mark
of her dignity on the privileged among mankind that even a child can
discern it.
Therefore, I should advise my sagacious countrymen, if ever again they
wish to trumpet about for thirty years a very commonplace person as a
great genius, not to choose for the purpose such a beerhouse-keeper
physiognomy as was possessed by that philosopher, upon whose face nature
had written, in her clearest characters, the familiar inscription,
"commonplace person."
But what applies to intellectual capacity will not apply to moral
qualities, to character. It is more difficult to discern its
physiognomy, because, being of a metaphysical nature, it lies
incomparably deeper.
It is true that moral character is also connected with the constitution,
with the organism, but not so immediately or in such direct connection
with definite parts of its system as is intellectual capacity.
Hence while everyone makes a show of his intelligence and endeavors to
exhibit it at every opportunity, as something with which he is in
general quite contented, few expose their moral qualities freely, and
most people intentionally cover them up; and long practice makes the
concealment perfect. In the meantime, as I explained above, wicked
thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mask upon the face,
especially the eyes. So that, judging by physiognomy, it is easy to
warrant that a given man will never produce an immortal work; but not
that he will never commit a great crime.
PSYCHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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