401 Quotes by Joseph Joubert

Religion is fire which example keeps alive, and which goes out if not communicated.

It is always our inabilities that vex us.

What can one possibly introduce into a mind that is already full, and full of itself?

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

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

I quit Paris unwillingly, because I must part from my friends; and I quit the country unwillingly, because I must part from myself.

Beautiful works do not intoxicate, but they enchant.

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!

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