Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) was a French man of letters who wrote on philosophical, moral, and literary topics. He is remembered today largely for his Pensées (Thoughts,) which were published posthumously.
Born in Montignac, Perigord, Joubert studied and taught at the college of Toulouse. He then went to Paris, where he lived through the French Revolution. In 1809, he was nominated inspector-general for the lycées (universities) under Napoleon Bonaparte.
Throughout his life, Joubert wrote in notebooks, on scraps of paper, which he then stored, mostly unclassified, in a case. After his death, his friend François-René de Châteaubriand edited a small volume from Joubert’s papers.
Joubert found fame for the concise, accurate—and, at times, witty—quality of writing in his Recueil des pensées de M. Joubert (1838, also Pensées or ‘Thoughts.’) These are in the best French tradition of François de La Rochefoucauld, Blaise Pascal, and Jean de La Bruyèreand Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Joseph Joubert
Grace is in garments, in movements, in manners; beauty in the nude, and in forms. This is true of bodies; but when we speak of feelings, beauty is in their spirituality, and grace in their moderation.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Grace
Think of the ills from which you are exempt.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Blessings
Maxims are to the intellect what laws are to actions: they do not enlighten, but guide and direct, and though themselves blind, are protecting.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Wisdom
Imagination is the eye of the soul.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Imagination
Mediocrity is excellent to the eyes of mediocre people.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Mediocrity
Be charitable and indulgent to everyone but thyself.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Kindness, Service, Giving, Charity
All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Luxury
Luckily, I never feel at one time more than half my pains.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Blessings
In bringing up a child, think of its old age.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Children
Questions show the mind’s range, and answers its subtlety.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Questions, Questioning
Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love the truth.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Opinions, Opinion, Change
There was a time when the world acted on books; now books act on the world.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Books, Reading
They are like the clue in the labyrinth, or the compass in the night.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Proverbial Wisdom, Proverbs
The mind conceives with pain, but it brings forth with delight.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: The Mind, Mind
Ornaments were invented by modesty.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Modesty, Humility
The lively phraseology of Montesquieu was the result of long meditation. His words, as light as wings, bear on them grave reflections.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Style
He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Imagination
Haughty people seem to me to have, like the dwarfs, the statures of a child and the face of a man.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Pride
Ignorance, which in behavior mitigates a fault, is, in literature, a capital offence.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Ignorance
Remorse is the punishment of crime; repentance, its expiation. The former appertains to a tormented conscience; the latter to a soul changed for the better.
—Joseph Joubert
A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Compassion, Kindness, Service
Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Illusion
Tenderness is the rest of passion.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Strength
Misery is almost always the result of thinking.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Optimism, Thinking, Happiness, Positive Attitudes
Tenderness is the repose of passion.
—Joseph Joubert
He who has not the weakness of friendship has not the strength.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Friends, Friendship
The passions should be purged; all may become innocent if they are well directed and moderated. Even hatred may be a commendable feeling when it is caused by a lively love of good. Whatever makes the passions purer makes them stronger, more durable, and mere enjoyable.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Passion
Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Genius, Labor
God multiplies intelligence, which communicates itself like fire, infinitely.—Light a thousand torches at one torch, and the flame of the latter remains the same.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Intelligence
Who ever has no fixed opinions has no constant feelings.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Consistency
The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Books, Literature, Reading
A maxim is the exact and noble expression of an important and indisputable truth.—Sound maxims are the germs of good; strongly imprinted on the memory they fortify and strengthen the will.
—Joseph Joubert
When one has too great a dread of what is impending, one feels some relief when the trouble has come.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Worry
Lenity is a part of mercy, but she must not speak too loud for fear of waking justice.
—Joseph Joubert
The evening of a well spent life brings its lamps with it.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Age
To see the world is to judge the judges.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Travel
We know God easily, if we do not constrain ourselves to define him.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: God
It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Argument
Justice without strength, or strength without justice—fearful misfortunes!
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Justice
Ask the young. They know everything.
—Joseph Joubert
Topics: Youth, Time
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