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Genuine bon mots surprise those from whose lips they fall, no less than they do those who listen to them.

Joseph Joubert

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Joseph Joubert
Age: 69 †
Born: 1754
Born: May 7
Died: 1824
Died: May 4
Essayist
Philosopher
Writer
Fall
Genuine
Lips
Surprise
Whose
Listen
Less

More quotes by Joseph Joubert

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Strength is natural, but grace is the growth of habit. This charming quality requires practice if it is to become lasting.
Joseph Joubert
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Old age takes from the man of intellect no qualities save those that are useless to wisdom.
Joseph Joubert
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Proverbs may be said to be the abridgment of wisdom.
Joseph Joubert
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The idea of the nest in the bird's mind, where does it come from?
Joseph Joubert
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To be an agreeable guest one need only enjoy oneself.
Joseph Joubert
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Thus, if the clarity of our thoughts comes through better in a play of words, then the wordplay is good. One must know how to enter the ideas of others and how to leave them.
Joseph Joubert
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All good verses are like impromptus made at leisure.
Joseph Joubert
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In these times gain is not only a matter of greed, but of ambition.
Joseph Joubert
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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
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Forms of government become established of themselves. They shape themselves, they are not created. We may give them strength and consistency, but we cannot call them into being. Let us rest assured that the form of government can never be a matter of choice: it is almost always a matter of necessity.
Joseph Joubert
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Our ideals, like pictures, are made from lights and shadows.
Joseph Joubert
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The mind's direction is more important than its progress.
Joseph Joubert
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The lively phraseology of Montesquieu was the result of long meditation. His words, as light as wings, bear on them grave reflections.
Joseph Joubert
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Virtue by calculation is the virtue of vice.
Joseph Joubert
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Young authors give their brains much exercise and little food.
Joseph Joubert
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Before you use a fancy word, make room for it.
Joseph Joubert
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Space is to place as eternity is to time.
Joseph Joubert
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We always believe God is like ourselves, the indulgent think him indulgent and the stern, terrible.
Joseph Joubert
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History needs distance, perspective. Facts and events which are too well attested cease, in some sort, to be malleable.
Joseph Joubert
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The essence of life consists in thinking, and being conscious of one's soul.
Joseph Joubert