Schopenhauer - Quirks

It is a wonderful thing how the individuality of every man (i.e. a certain particular character with a certain particular intellect) minutely determines his every thought and action and like a penetrative dye permeates even the most insignificant part of them, so that the entire life-course, i.e. the inner and outer history, of each one differs fundamentally from that of all the others.  As a botanist can recognize the whole plant from one leaf, as Cuvier can construct the whole animal from one bone, so an accurate knowledge of a man's character can be arrived at from a single characteristic action; and that is true even when this action involves some trifle - indeed this is often better for the purpose, for with important things people are on their guard, while with trifles they follow their own nature without much reflection.



 -A. Schopenhauer, On Ethics.

 

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