Musar for Sukkah 55:4

אמרו עליו על רבן יוחנן בן זכאי מימיו לא שח שיחת חולין ולא הלך ד' אמות בלא תורה ובלא תפילין ולא קדמו אדם בבית המדרש ולא ישן בבית המדרש לא שינת קבע ולא שינת עראי ולא הרהר במבואות המטונפות ולא הניח אדם בבית המדרש ויצא ולא מצאו אדם יושב ודומם אלא יושב ושונה ולא פתח אדם דלת לתלמידיו אלא הוא בעצמו ולא אמר דבר שלא שמע מפי רבו מעולם ולא אמר הגיע עת לעמוד מבית המדרש חוץ מערבי פסחים וערבי יום הכפורים וכן היה ר' אליעזר תלמידו נוהג אחריו

It was said about Rabbi Yochanan the son of Zakai: In all his days, he never conversed in everyday conversation, and he never walked four cubits without Torah and without phylacteries, and person never came before him to the House of Study, and neither did he sleep in the House of Study, neither a permanent sleep nor a temporary sleep, and neither did he think in dirty entrances, and he never left a person in the House of Study and exited, and a person never found him sitting still, but rather he would sit and learn, and a person never opened the door for his students, but rather he himself [opened it for them], and he never said anything which he did not hear from his teachers at any time, and he never said, 'The time has come to stand [and exit] from the House of Study,' except for the eve of Passover and the eve of the Day of Atonement. And so would Rabbi Eliezer, his student, act after him.

Orchot Tzadikim

In the world, there are cold winds and warm winds. So is it with man. When he opens his mouth and blows, then his breath is warm. And when he closes his mouth and blows, then his breath is cool. The thunders of the world are like the voice in man; the lightning of the world is in the face of man when it shines like lightning. There are constellations in the world, and those who view the stars can tell the future from them. So are there signs in man. When a man has a rash, which does not come from a boil or a louse or a mite, experts in this matter can foretell the future. And so it is with the lines in the palm of a man's hand and with the form of his features that people may know the future. Now this wisdom was in the possession of the wise men of old but has been forgotten by the later ones. Similarly the wise men can tell the future by trees and herbs, and this is according to what they said concerning Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai that he knew the language of the date palms (Sukkah 28a). The meaning of this is that he was expert enough to perceive the motion of the date palms and from this he could tell the future (Aruch 68).

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