Joseph Joubert
Joseph Joubert
Joseph Joubertwas a French moralist and essayist, remembered today largely for his Pensées, which was published posthumously...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth7 May 1754
CountryFrance
essentials truth-is
The essential thing is not that there be many truths in a work, but that no truth be abused.
men joy religion
One man finds in religion his literature and his science, another finds in it his joy and his duty.
men heaven religion
Men have torn up the roads which led to Heaven, and which all the world followed; now we have to make our own ladders.
leisure made verses
All good verses are like impromptus made at leisure.
daughter simple men
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.
distance history perspective
History needs distance, perspective. Facts and events which are too well attested cease, in some sort, to be malleable.
vex inability ability
It is always our inabilities that vex us.
humor wings mind
There is always some frivolity in excellent minds; they have wings to rise, but also stray.
mean men coins
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!
religion multitudes
Religion is the only metaphysic that the multitude can understand and adopt.
thinking essence soul
The essence of life consists in thinking, and being conscious of one's soul.
giving joy
When you give, give with joy and smiling.
essence volume sentences
There are single thoughts that contain the essence of a whole volume, single sentences that have the beauties of a large work.
fear ideas fear-of-love
Fear loves the idea of danger.