Joseph Joubert Quotes - Page 8

There is always some frivolity in excellent minds; they have wings to rise, but also stray.

The evening of a well spent youth brings it's lamps with it.

It is easier to be mistaken about the true than the beautiful.

Virtue by calculation is the virtue of vice.

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

All disputation makes the mind deaf; and when people are deaf, I am dumb.

Contempt for private wrongs was one of the features of ancient morals.

Fully to understand a grand and beautiful thought requires, perhaps, as much time as to conceive it.

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.

There are those to whom one must advise madness.

The mind conceives with pain, but it brings forth with delight.

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

Lenity is a part of justice; but she must not speak too loud for fear of waking justice.

Virtue is the health of the soul. It gives a flavor to the smallest leaves of life.

All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste.

The simple-hearted and sincere never do more than half deceive themselves.

Which is more misshapen,--religion without virtue, or virtue without religion?

To see the world is to judge the judges.

Justice is the right of the weakest.

The idea of the nest in the bird's mind, where does it come from?

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

Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praiseworthy

Illusion and wisdom combined are the charm of life and art.

The supreme sway of chastity over the senses makes her queenly.

Today there are no more irreconcilable enmities, because there are no more disinterested emotions: that's a good thing born from a bad thing.