ature itself: so that everyone is worth attentive observation, even
though everyone may not be worth talking to. And if every individual is
worth observation as a single thought of nature, how much more so is
beauty, since it is a higher and more general conception of nature, is,
in fact, her thought of a species. This is why beauty is so captivating:
it is a fundamental thought of nature: whereas the individual is only a
by-thought, a corollary.

In private, people always proceed upon the principle that a man is what
he looks; and the principle is a right one, only the difficulty lies in
its application. For though the art of applying the principle is partly
innate and may be partly gained by experience, no one is a master of it,
and even the most experienced is not infallible. But for all that,
whatever Figaro may say, it is not the face which deceives; it is we who
deceive ourselves in reading in it what is not there.

The deciphering of a face is certainly a great and difficult art, and
the principles of it can never be learnt in the abstract. The first
condition of success is to maintain a purely objective point of view,
which is no easy matter. For, as soon as the faintest trace of anything
subjective is present, whether dislike or favor, or fear or hope, or
even the thought of the impression we ourselves are making upon the
object of our attention the characters we are trying to decipher become
confused and corrupt. The sound of a language is really appreciated only
by one who does not understand it, and that because, in thinking of the
signification of a word, we pay no regard to the sign itself. So, in the
same way, a physiognomy is correctly gauged only by one to whom it is
still strange, who has not grown accustomed to the face by constantly
meeting and conversing with the man himself. It is, therefore, strictly
speaking, only the first sight of a man which affords that purely
objective view which is necessary for deciphering his features. An odor
affects us only when we first come in contact with it, and the first
glass of wine is the one which gives us its true taste: in the same way,
it is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression
upon us. Consequently the first impression should be carefully attended
to and noted, even written down if the subject of it is of personal
importance, provided, of course, that one can trust one's own sense of
physiognomy. Subsequent acquaintance and inte