Joseph Joubert Quotes

109 Sourced Quotes

Only just the right quantum of wit should be put into a book; in conversation a little excess is allowable.

Joseph Joubert
Man is born with the faculty of speech. Who gives it to him? He who gives the bird its song.

Joseph Joubert
Genuine witticisms surprise those who say them as much as those who listen to them; they arise in us in spite of us, or, at least, without our participation,--like everything inspired.

Joseph Joubert
Thoughts there are, that need no embodying, no form, no expression. It is enough to hint at them vaguely; a word, and they are heard and seen.

Joseph Joubert
One day, a daughter of Aristotle, Pythias by name, was asked what color pleased her most. She replied, "The color with which modesty suffuses the face of simple, inoffensive men.

Joseph Joubert
A few words worthy to be remembered suffice to give an idea of a great mind. There are single thoughts that contain the essence of a whole volume, single sentences that have the beauties of a large work, a simplicity so finished and so perfect that it equals in merit and in excellence a large and glorious composition.

Joseph Joubert
We use up in the passions the stuff that was given us for happiness.

Joseph Joubert
There is in the soul a taste for the good, just as there is in the body an appetite for enjoyment.

Joseph Joubert
Religion is the only metaphysic that the multitude can understand and adopt.

Joseph Joubert
Criticism even should not be without its charms. When quite devoid of all amenities, it is no longer literary.

Joseph Joubert
Fancy, an animal faculty, is very different from imagination, which is intellectual. The former is passive; but the latter is active and creative. Children, the weak minded, and the timid are full of fancy. Men and women of intellect, of great intellect, are alone possessed of great imagination.

Joseph Joubert
The God of metaphysics is but an idea. But the God of religion, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sovereign Judge of actions and thoughts, is a power.

Joseph Joubert
Success serves men as a pedestal. It makes them seem greater when not measured by reflection.

Joseph Joubert
We should do good whenever we can and do kindness at all times, for at all times we can.

Joseph Joubert
The last word should be the last word. It is like a finishing touch given to color; there is nothing more to add. But what precaution is needed in order not to put the last word first.

Joseph Joubert
The punishment of those who have loved women too much is to love them always.

Joseph Joubert
Men must be either the slaves of duty, or the slaves of force.

Joseph Joubert
I would fain coin wisdom,—mould it, I mean, into maxims, proverbs, sentences, that can easily be retained and transmitted. Would that I could denounce and banish from the language of men—as base money—the words by which they cheat and are cheated!

Joseph Joubert
The true character of epistolary style is playfulness and urbanity.

Joseph Joubert