A tall man is usually a symbol of good personality of man. A tall man with well proportioned body parts is lucky and leads a comfortable life. A short statured man is sexy in nature, often he is clever and cunning.

If the head is round and big in size, it denotes that such a person will be a good administrator and will hold a good position in life. When the head is level and full of hair, it indicates an intelligent, witty nature full of good qualities. If the head is more broad than long, it means that such a person will be unlucky and devoid of wealth. If the head is small, the person will be devoid of intelligence and will not be so lucky.

If the hair on the head is jet black and thick, it shows a person who is endowed with mainly qualities. But when the hair is thin and black, such person is likely to be passionate. If the hair is reddish in color, it denotes that he will lead a life of comfort. But if the hair is thick and rough, he may be poor. If he has red colored hair, he may become the head of a section, community, army.

If the forehead is broad,the subject will be generous, intelligent and learned. And when it is short, it denotes that he will be poor and is likely to have short life. If the forehead is curved and broad, it indicates that the person may be wealthy and spritually inclined. If the forehead is high and broad, the person will be learned, intelligent and wealthy.

When there are five lines, the person lives for 100 years and amasses wealth. If there are four lines, he may live for 80 years. If there are one, two or three lines, the man will live for 40, 60 or 70 years, respectively. A person without a line is usually short-lived.

When the eyebrows are curved like a bow, the man is wealthy and will lead a comfortable life. If they are shaped like a fish, the person may be a thief. If both the eyebrows join together, the subject will be under the influence of opposite sex but will be kind hearted. If the eyebrows are long and bushy, the person will be concieted, selfish and even foolhardy. If the eyebrows are broad, the person is likely to be generous. Less hair indicate that the person may be poor and unlucky.

When the ends of the eyes are red, it denotes that such a person is very popular amongst the fair sex. When the eyes are red, they indicate passionate nature. When the eyes are deep sunk and deep set, such persons may be wicked and unfaithful. The persons with yellow colored eyes are not contented in their life. If the eyes are white, it shows intelligence, if wheatish, the man likes to work with his own hands. When the eyes are round, the person is brave or a thief.

When the ears of a man are small in size, it indicates his foolish nature. a long eared person is very often intelligent. If the ears are twisted and hard like stone, the person will be stout of body and wrestler. If the ear frame is thin, the person will either be a king or a scholar, but if it is thick, he will be a cheat, unreliable and may commit evil acts.

A person with round face appeals usually and is considered lucky as well. When the face is round, the person is quite jovial in nature, he will like to meet people. If it is big and out of proportion, the person is likely to be poor and unlucky.

When the nose is long and of yellow color, the person will be wealthy, lucky and will enjoy the power. When it is very long, he is shameless. If it is small, he will be religious-minded and kind hearted. A parrot like nose denotes that the man will enjoy the ruling power, be wealthy, lucky. If the nose is depressed in the center, the subject will be shrewd and wicked. When it is bulging upwards in the center, the person will be mature thinker, a good planner and wealthy.

When the cheeks are raised, the person is selfish. If dimples are seen while laughing or talking, the subject will be wealthy and lucky. In case the cheeks are quite broad and fleshy, the person is destined to be a ruler, a wealthy man and will enjoy power.

When the chin is long and hangs down, he is talkative. But when there is little hair on the chin, the man should be classed as selfish, of a rash temperament and spendthrift. When there is no hair on the chin, the man is unlucky and cowardly.

A big mouth indicates a bold nature. If it is broad, it is not lucky. If short the man will be greedy, quarrelsome and wicked.

When the color of the lips is red, the person is of sanguine nature. If it is black, white or if the lips are long or broad, they are indications of ill luck. Such persons have a blemished character. Thin lips indicates intelligence. In case the lower lip is big and protruding, it indicates a hard working man but he is rarely faithful.

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A normal sized belly indicates luck. A long and thin belly is sign of good position in administration. Red colored veins on belly show loose moral. No veins or blue colored veins indicate that the person will be lucky and wealthy.

When the navel is big and round, the man is generous and wealthy. If it is deep and fleshy, he attains good rank and position in life. If it is small and uneven, he is of morals and poor..

When the waist is of sandwich type, the man will lead a miserable life. If he has long, broad and fleshy waist, he will be wealthy, lucky and will have many children.

There are bones at the back which may number 9,10,12 or 14; they indicate that the person will be popular, wealthy, spritually inclined or unlucky respectively. In case he has 13 bones, he will be wealthy and lucky.

Broad and fleshy thighs are indication of good luck and the reverse shows bad luck. If there is thick hair, he is popular with women. Hairless thighs show ill luck.

When the muscles of the calf are tapering, well shaped and fleshy, they show a man to be wealthy, lucky and popular who will enjoy a good life.

When one has long and fleshy feet, one is wealthy and enjoys power. If the feet are of average size, one leads an average life.

If there is thick hair on body, it denotes a miserable life, if the hair is scanty, the man will be lucky. If the hair is thin, the man may suffer in life.

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Face reading would offer information about the nature and character of a person. A professional reader could read some of the characteristics such as intelligence, reliability and honesty. A couple of points noteworthy in predictions through face reading are the width, height and shape of the head and face.

Forehead – The forehead is classified as wide, narrow, round and shallow. Practicality and cleverness is associated with a wide forehead. People with a wide forehead are capable of executing duty diligently. An individual with a deep or round forehead is an idealistic person and these people value longstanding friendship. Constraints and obstacles in family life are associated with a narrow forehead. While, obstacles in career and family troubles are associated with shallow forehead.

Eyebrows – The eyebrows of a person reveals his temperament and the reputation. An ideal brow is a highly arched. This pattern of eyebrow is seen on the faces of actors and actresses. If you come across an individual with developed brow line, you would know he is observant and is dexterous. Sensitive and aesthetic temperaments are associated with a straight brow. A person whose brow grows thickly over his nose bridge is considered to be possessive and envious of others. A thin set of eyebrows reveal the cautious nature of an individual while making major decisions.

Nose – The attitude and the wealth of a person is revealed by the size of one’s nose. According to face readers, the size of the nose is the indication of wealth and also the attitude of a person with regards to financial issues. An ideal nose has a high and straight nose bridge and a fleshy nose tip. An oversize nose tip reveals the violent tendencies of an individual. While, a fleshy nose tip indicates warmth and cordial personality of an individual. Strong will-power and independence are the two characteristics associated with an aquiline nose.

Philtrum – One of the facial features a face reader notices is the groove on the upper lip known as the Philtrum. If an individual has an unpronounced philtrum it reveals his low energy level. While, a deep and clearly marked groove means a strong and healthy energy levels.

Lips – The lips are associated with communication, nurturing relationship and sensual appetites. Full and round lips would convey caring nature of an individual. A thin lower lip indicates giving nature while a thin upper reveals an inability of an individual to reciprocate feelings in a relationship.

Physiognomy (Gk. physis, nature and gnomon, judge, interpreter) is the assessment of a person’s character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object or terrain, without reference to its implied characteristics.

The credence of such study has varied from time to time. The practise was well-accepted by the ancient Greek philosophers but fell into disrepute in the Middle Ages when practised by vagabonds and mountebanks. It was then revived and popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater before falling from favour again in the 20th century. It is now being revived again as some new research indicates that people’s faces can indicate such traits as trustworthiness, social dominance and aggression. The latter trait seems to be determined by the level of the hormone testosterone during puberty which affects the ratio between the height and width of the face – aggressive individuals are found to have wider faces.[1]
Ancient physiognomy

Notions of the relationship between an individual’s outward appearance and inner character are historically ancient, and occasionally appear in early Greek poetry. The first indications of a developed physiognomic theory appear in fifth century Athens, where one Zopyrus was said to be expert in the art. By the fourth century, the philosopher Aristotle makes frequent reference to theory and literature concerning the relationship of appearance to character. Aristotle was apparently receptive to such an idea, as evidenced by a passage in his Prior Analytics (2.27).

It is possible to infer character from features, if it is granted that the body and the soul are changed together by the natural affections: I say ‘natural’, for though perhaps by learning music a man has made some change in his soul, this is not one of those affections which are natural to us; rather I refer to passions and desires when I speak of natural emotions. If then this were granted and also that for each change there is a corresponding sign, and we could state the affection and sign proper to each kind of animal, we shall be able to infer character from features.
— Trans. A. J. Jenkinson

Koala eating eucalyptus — has it affected his physiognomy?

The Greek here is quite hard to express, but Aristotle seems to be referring to characteristics in the nature of each kind of animal thought to be present in their faces, that he suggests might be analysed for correspondences — for example, the koala’s fondness for eucalyptus leaves.

The first systematic physiognomic treatise to survive to the present day is a slim volume, Physiognomica (English: Physiognomics), ascribed to Aristotle (but probably of his “school” rather than created by the philosopher himself). The volume is divided into two parts, conjectured to have been originally two separate works. The first section discusses arguments drawn from nature or other races, and concentrates on the concept of human behavior. The second section focuses on animal behavior, dividing the animal kingdom into male and female types. From these are deduced correspondences between human form and character.

After Aristotle, the major extant works in physiognomy are:

* Polemo of Laodicea, de Physiognomonia (2c. A.D.), in Greek
* Adamantius the Sophist, Physiognomonica (4c. A.D.), in Greek
* An anonymous Latin author de Phsiognomonia (ca. 4c. A.D.)

Ancient Greek mathematician, astronomer and scientist Pythagoras, believed by some to be the originator of physiognomics, once rejected a prospective follower named Cylon simply because of his appearance, which Pythagoras deemed indicative of bad character[2]
Middle Ages

The term was common in Middle English, often written as fisnamy or visnomy (as in the Tale of Beryn, a 15th Century sequel to the Canterbury Tales: “I knowe wele by thy fisnamy, thy kynd it were to stele”). Physiognomy’s validity was once widely accepted, and it was taught in universities until the time of Henry VIII of England, who outlawed it (along with “Palmestrye”) in 1531[3]. Around this time, scholastic leaders settled on the more erudite Greek form ‘physiognomy’ and began to discourage the whole concept of ‘fisnamy’.

Modern physiognomy
Johann Kaspar Lavater

The principal promoter of physiognomy in modern times was the Swiss pastor Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) who was briefly a friend of Goethe. Lavater’s essays on physiognomy were first published in German in 1772 and gained great popularity. These influential essays were translated into French and English. The two principal sources from which Lavater found ‘confirmation’ of his ideas were the writings of the Italian Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615) and the English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), whose Religio Medici discusses the possibility of the discernment of inner qualities from the outer appearance of the face, thus:

there is surely a Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe… For there are mystically in our faces certain Characters which carry in them the motto of our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A.B.C. may read our natures.
— R.M. part 2:2

Late in his life Browne affirmed his physiognomical beliefs, writing in his Christian Morals (circa 1675):
Sir Thomas Browne

Since the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues, and the countenance proclaims the heart and inclinations; let observation so far instruct thee in Physiognomical lines….we often observe that Men do most act those Creatures, whose constitution, parts, and complexion do most predominate in their mixtures. This is a corner-stone in Physiognomy… there are therefore Provincial Faces, National Lips and Noses, which testify not only the Natures of those Countries, but of those which have them elsewhere.
— C.M. Part 2 section 9

Sir Thomas Browne is also credited with the first usage of the word caricature in the English language, whence much of physiognomy movement’s pseudo-learning attempted to entrench itself by illustrative means.

Browne possessed several of the writings of the Italian Giambattista della Porta including his Of Celestial Physiognomy which argued that it was not the stars but a person’s temperament which influences facial appearance and character. In his book De humana physiognomia (1586), Porta used woodcuts of animals to illustrate human characteristics. His works are well represented in the Library of Sir Thomas Browne; both men sustained a belief in the doctrine of signatures — that is, the belief that the physical structures of nature such as a plant’s roots, stem and flower, were indicative keys (or signatures) to their medicinal potentials.

Even the great inventor, scientist and artist, Leonardo Da Vinci, was an avid researcher of physiognomy in the early 16th century.

The popularity of physiognomy grew throughout the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century. It influenced the descriptive abilities of many European novelists, notably Balzac, and portrait artists, such as Joseph Ducreux; meanwhile, the ‘Norwich connection’ to physiognomy developed in the writings of Amelia Opie and travelling linguist George Borrow. A host of other nineteenth century English authors were influenced by the idea, notably evident in the detailed physiognomic descriptions of characters in the novels of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Brontë. Physiognomy is a central, implicit assumption underlying the plot of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In 19th century American literature, physiognomy figures prominently in the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe[4]

Phrenology was also considered a form of physiognomy. It was created around 1800 by German physician Franz Joseph Gall and Johann Spurzheim, and was widely popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United States.

A physiognomist named Yoshito Mizuno was employed from 1936 to 1945 by the Imperial Japanese Naval Aeronautics Department, examining candidates for the Naval Air Corps, after – to their surprise – Admiral Yamamoto’s staff discovered that he could predict with over 80% accuracy the qualifications of candidates to become successful pilots.[5]

Practitioners of the personality type theory socionics use physiognomy as a personality identification technique[6][7]. Noted teacher and trainer H.C. Linguere is known to say “Physiognomics provides a great tactical advantage in achieving objectives. The body never lies.”[8]