# The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert - Author: [Joseph Joubert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert.md) - Quotes: 251 - Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert ## Quotes > Genius begins beautiful works, but only labor finishes them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/genius-begins-beautiful.md) > Words, like glass, obscure when they do not aid vision. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/words-like-glass.md) > You want to talk to someone: first open your ears. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/you-want-to-talk.md) > Everyone makes and has need of making a world other than the one he sees. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/everyone-makes-and.md) > Luminous words, like those drops of light we see in fireworks. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/luminous-words-like.md) > Of what must be said and what must not be said. The importance of knowing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/of-what-must.md) > When a truth is better conceived through abstraction, use the abstraction; if not, don't. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-a-truth.md) > Courage (in a soldier) is maintained by a certain anger; anger is a little blind and likes to strike out. And from this follows a thousand abuses, a thousand evils and misfortunes that are impossible to predict in an army during war. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/courage-in-a-soldier.md) > It is not light that burns, that purifies, that consumes, that divides, and that recomposes; it is fire. And this fire we are talking about always follows light. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-not-light.md) > Tormented by the cursed ambition always to put a whole book in a page, a whole page in a sentence, and this sentence in a word. I am speaking of myself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/tormented-by-the.md) > You want to explain everything by the facts that are known to you. But the facts that are not known to you? What do they say? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/you-want-to-explain.md) > Melancholy: when we have sorrows without a name. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/melancholy-when-we-have.md) > It is better to be concerned with being than with nothingness. Dream therefore of what you still have rather than what you have lost. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-better-to.md) > Nothing is better than a justified enthusiasm. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/nothing-is-better.md) > Madness is an illness of the brain, not of the mind. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/madness-is-an-illness.md) > You go to truth by way of poetry and I go to poetry by way of truth. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/you-go-to-truth.md) > Let us look for our light in our feelings. There is a warmth in them that contains many clarities. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/let-us-look-for.md) > Retreat often into your sphere, rest yourself in your center, plunge yourself into your element: good advice, which must be remembered. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/retreat-often-into.md) > One must die lovable (if one can). [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-must-die.md) > To write his views or his observations, his ideas, but not his judgments. Our judgments limit our views of things. Some enclosures, but no walls. The man who always write his judgments places before his eyes the calpe and abyla. He goes no further and creates a nec plus ultra. Thus, in the study of wisdom, many views and few judgments. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-write-his.md) > When we find what we have been looking for, we don't have time to say it. We must die. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-we-find.md) > A frightening thing, which is perhaps true: "old men want to survive." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-frightening-thing.md) > In such times, if you want neither to lie nor to wound, you are reduced to being silent. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-such-times.md) > Reason does not reason. It goes straight to the fact or the consequence. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/reason-does-not.md) > Half myself mocks the other half. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/half-myself-mocks.md) > Neither in the arts, nor in logic, nor in life should an idea by in any way treated as a thing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/neither-in-the.md) > Logic works, metaphysics contemplates. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/logic-works-metaphysics.md) > To be pathetic when we cry, we must cry without wanting to and without knowing it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-be-pathetic.md) > And perhaps there is no advice to give a writer more important than this: — Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/and-perhaps-there.md) > In order to know men, something must be chanced. Who risks himself of nothing knows nothing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-order-to-know.md) > There is nothing perfectly true for man; I mean in human opinions. Just like there is nothing perfectly round. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-is-nothing-perfectly.md) > Everything we can measure seems small. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/everything-we-can.md) > Speak for the ear and write for the memory. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/speak-for-the.md) > A stupid lie is one that can never make itself believed. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-stupid-lie.md) > Wicked people have nothing human about them except passions: they are almost their virtues. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/wicked-people-have.md) > A book that reveals the mind is worth more than one that only reveals its subject. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-book-that.md) > No, men are not born to know, but they are destined for it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/no-men-are.md) > Never the mind without the soul. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/never-the-mind.md) > Fortunately, when he lacks reason he also lacks words. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/fortunately-when-he-lacks.md) > Whoever does not see his friends in a good light loves them little. To see in a good light. — Whoever does not see in a good light is a bad painter, a bad friend, a bad lover. Whoever does not see in a good light has not been able to lift his mind up to what is there or his heart to what is good. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/whoever-does-not.md) > Let's go; and follow your mistake. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/lets-go-and.md) > Anger, which purges resentment. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/anger-which-purges.md) > The punishment of those who have loved women too much is to love them forever. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-punishment-of-those.md) > Strength is not energy. Some writers have more muscles than talent. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/strength-is-not.md) > Tenderness is the repose of passion. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/tenderness-is-the.md) > During our youth, there is something in us that is better than ourselves, I mean better than our desires, our pleasures, our yieldings, and our inclinations. Our soul is good then, even though our intelligence and will are not. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/during-our-youth.md) > All religions = all women. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-religions-all.md) > Abuse of words, foundation of ideology. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/abuse-of-words.md) > Without fixed ideas, no fixed feelings. (Whoever has no constant opinions has no constant emotions.) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/without-fixed-ideas.md) > I am like Montaigne: "unsuited to continuous discourse." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-am-like.md) > To let the reader complete the symmetry between words and do no more than suggest it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-let-the.md) > People of intelligence often treat business in the way ignorant people treat books: they understand nothing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/people-of-intelligence.md) > Of those who want us to be wrong and those who want us to be right. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/of-those-who.md) > We always lose the friendship of those who lose our esteem. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-always-lose.md) > A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-work-is-perfectly.md) > Necessity can make a doubtful action innocent, but it cannot make it commendable. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/necessity-can-make.md) > The hordes of words that fill our books proclaim our ignorance, reveal the obscurities that flood our knowledge. If we were perfectly enlightened, our moral books would contain only maxims and our books on physics and spirituality would contain only axioms and facts. Everything else is clutter and shows no more than our gropings, our efforts, and our difficulties. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-hordes-of-words.md) > In this painting of our life given to us by our memories, everything is moving and depends on our point of view. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-this-painting.md) > In political institutions, almost everything we call an abuse was once a remedy. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-political-institutions.md) > Sloth waiting for inspiration. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/sloth-waiting-for.md) > Reason leads man back to his instincts. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/reason-leads-man.md) > Little people have few passions, they hardly have anything but needs. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/little-people-have.md) > He must not cultivate his friends, but cultivate his friendships within himself. They must be kept, cared for, watered. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/he-must-not.md) > What is clear should not be drawn out too much. These useless explanations, these endless examinations are a kind of long whiteness and lead to boredom. It is the uniformity of a wall, of a long piece of laundry. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-is-clear.md) > Maxims, because what is isolated can be seen better. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/maxims-because-what.md) > The breath of the mind is attention. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-breath-of-the.md) > The talkative person is one who speaks more than he thinks. Someone who thinks a great deal and talks a great deal is never considered a talkative person. The talkative man speaks from his mouth, the eloquent man speaks from his heart. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-talkative-person.md) > There are words agreeable to the eye (in the same way there are words agreeable to the ear). By a fortunate combination of the letters that form them or by the harmony of these letters. For each letter has its shape. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-are-words.md) > The great inconvenience of new books is that they prevent us from reading the old ones. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-great-inconvenience.md) > There is an infinity of things one does well only through necessity. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-is-an-infinity.md) > When the last word is always the one that offers itself first, the work becomes difficult. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-the-last.md) > Animals love the people who talk to them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/animals-love-the.md) > The truth! Only God sees it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-truth-only.md) > Few minds are spacious; few even have an empty place in them or can offer some vacant point. Almost all have narrow capacities and are filled by some knowledge that blocks them up. What a torture to talk to filled heads, that allow nothing from the outside to enter them! A good mind, in order to enjoy itself and allow itself to enjoy others, always keeps itself larger than its own thoughts. And in order to do this, this thoughts must be given a pliant form, must be easily folded and unfolded, so they are capable, finally, or maintaining a natural flexibility. All those short-sighted minds see clearly within their little ideas and see nothing in those of others; they are like those bad eyes that see from close range what is obscure and cannot perceive what is clear from afar. Night minds, minds of darkness. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/few-minds-are.md) > Let anger pass, make a place for it; do not impede its progress; do not disturb its development, give it the time it needs to die out, open a wide path for it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/let-anger-pass.md) > Properly speaking, man inhabits only his head and his heart. All other places are vainly before his eyes, at his sides, and under his feet: he himself is not there at all. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/properly-speaking-man.md) > Whoever consults the light within himself (it is within everyone) excels at judging the object this light illumines. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/whoever-consults-the.md) > Having found nothing worth more than emptiness, he leaves space vacant. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/having-found-nothing.md) > When I had the strength, I did not have the patience. I have the patience today and I no longer have the power. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-i-had.md) > Undoubtedly, philosophy caused the Revolution. But what caused philosophy? Theological arrogance. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/undoubtedly-philosophy-caused.md) > We are afraid of having and showing a small mind and we are not afraid of having and showing a small heart. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-are-afraid.md) > Think nothing outside their paper. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/think-nothing-outside.md) > For in spite of ourselves we respect those whom we see respected. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/for-in-spite.md) > All those whom for style is not a game but a labor. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-those-whom.md) > One always adds a little of one's soul to what one thinks. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-always-adds.md) > It is above all the language for expressing these truths that have not yet been found. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-above.md) > Those who have judgment use it as much as in judging stones as in judging men. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/those-who-have.md) > From the center we should perceive the circle. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/from-the-center.md) > In living, one learns how to read. (How, and with what result.) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-living-one.md) > Available. A thought is perfect only when it is perfectly available, that is to say when one can place it and detach it at will. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/available-a-thought.md) > Tacitus. And all those words that are obscure only once. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/tacitus-and-all.md) > All ways of expressing ourselves are good if they make us understood. Thus, if the clarity of our thoughts comes through better in a play of words, then the wordplay is good. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-ways-of-expressing.md) > To descend into ourselves, we must first lift ourselves up. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-descend-into.md) > What you call weakness comes from the strength of friendship. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-you-call.md) > Illusions comes from heaven and mistakes come from us. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/illusions-comes-from.md) > To see the world means judging the judges. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-see-the.md) > One must be an illusionary rather than a visionary. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-must-be-an-illusionary.md) > It is not simply a matter of distinguishing between good and evil, but also of not confusing what is laughable with what is not. To make laughable what is not is in some way to make bad what was good. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-not-simply.md) > All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-gardeners-live.md) > What is promised to you in dreams is given to you in dreams! [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-is-promised.md) > Man loves what is small; and he loves what is big, through the same weakness. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/man-loves-what.md) > A person who is never duped cannot be a friend. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-person-who.md) > All clear and transparent words appear to be beautiful sounds. Yes and no are not precisely clear words, but definite words. In clear words, there is more light than movement or attitude. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-clear-and.md) > What we say is similar to what we are. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-we-say.md) > I did not have good eyes nor light in my mind that day. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-did-not.md) > The important business of man is life, and the important business of life is death. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-important-business.md) > I don't like to write anything down on paper that I would not say to myself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-dont-like.md) > Those who never back down love themselves more than they love the truth. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/those-who-never.md) > In these times when, to express ourselves, we must speak in a way others do not. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-these-times.md) > One must know how to enter the ideas of others and how to leave them. One must know how to leave one's own ideas and how to come back to them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-must-know.md) > Beyond the brain, there is something that observes the brain itself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/beyond-the-brain.md) > One ruins the mind with too much writing. — One rusts it by not writing at all. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-ruins-the.md) > There must be several voices together in one voice for it to be beautiful. And several meanings in one word for it to be beautiful. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-must-be-several.md) > It seems there is something spiritual in wine. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-seems-there.md) > What man knows only through feeling can be explained only through enthusiasm. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-man-knows.md) > In every kind of debauch there enters much coldness of soul. It is a conscious and voluntary abuse of pleasure. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-every-kind.md) > Beauty is something animal, the beautiful is something celestial. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/beauty-is-something.md) > I stop when I see no more light; it is impossible for me to write by feeling my way. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-stop-when.md) > Conversation. — Because they have many of those ideas that, to be shown, have need of eyes, gestures, voice, a whole multitude of signs that the written word does not accompany. One sees the soul in operation. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/conversation-because-they.md) > I have too much brain for my head. It cannot play comfortably in its box. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-have-too.md) > ...burdened with the unbearable weight of ourselves. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/burdened-with-the.md) > When we speak, we write what we are saying in the air. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-we-speak.md) > An oratorical style often has the same drawbacks as those operas in which the music prevents you from hearing the words. Here the words prevent you from seeing the thoughts. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/an-oratorical-style.md) > When you write easily, you always think you have more talent than you really do. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-you-write.md) > My ideas! It is the house for lodging them that costs me so much to build. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/my-ideas-it-is-the.md) > Someone said of an asthmatic who was being very sweet and patient in his suffering: "One would like to breathe for him." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/someone-said-of-an-asthmatic.md) > Fear feeds the imagination. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/fear-feeds-the.md) > We are all old children, more or less serious, more or less filled with ourselves. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-are-all.md) > They want to shake up the world, not make it wiser. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/they-want-to-shake.md) > In the same way crimes have increased laws, errors have increased explanations. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/in-the-same.md) > Those thoughts that come to us suddenly and that are not yet ours. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/those-thoughts-that.md) > All things that are easy to say have already been perfectly said. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-things-that.md) > All beautiful words are susceptible to more than one meaning (or signification). [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-beautiful-words.md) > Speak more softly to be better heard by a deaf public. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/speak-more-softly.md) > I know too well what I am going to say. I know it too well before writing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-know-too.md) > Do not choose for your wife any woman you would not choose for a friend if she were a man. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/do-not-choose.md) > What will you think of pleasures when you no longer enjoy them? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-will-you.md) > The child speaks words with his memory long before he speaks them with his tongue. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-child-speaks.md) > The truth by way of illusion. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-truth-by-way.md) > My dreams are more amorous than my actions have ever been. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/my-dreams-are.md) > It is not my words that I polish, but my ideas. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-not-my.md) > A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-part-of-kindness.md) > There is nothing serious in civil life except good and evil, vice and virtue. Everything else in it should be a game. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-is-nothing.md) > They speak to the ear. I want to speak to the memory. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/they-speak-to-the.md) > The time I once lost in pleasure I now lose in suffering. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-time-i-once.md) > Misery is almost always the result of thinking. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/misery-is-almost.md) > The voice is an aid to intelligence. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-voice-is-an-aid.md) > These thoughts form not only the foundation of my work, but of my life. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/these-thoughts-form.md) > We must try, as much as possible, not to mistrust anyone. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-must-try.md) > Once we have tasted the juice of words, our mind can no longer pass them by. We drink thought from them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/once-we-have.md) > The soul speaks to itself in parables. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-soul-speaks.md) > Because they know all the words, they think they know all the truths. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/because-they-know.md) > All reflection is art. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-reflection-is-art.md) > Genius is the aptitude for seeing invisible things, for stirring intangible things, for painting things that have no features. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/genius-is-the.md) > It's not mental repose they seek, but mental laziness. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/its-not-mental.md) > The phrase, "One dies before one has lived." [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-phrase-one.md) > There are many situations in life that we suddenly feel we have seen in dreams. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/there-are-many.md) > Everything that is exact is short. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/everything-that-is-exact.md) > All these young minds the revolution has heated up and brought to flower before their time, before their age. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-these-young.md) > "But he doesn't finish his sentences," (he said). And they don't finish their thoughts. — To finish their thoughts. — To finish one's thought! It is a long process, it is rare. It gives intense pleasure. Because every finished thought easily enters the mind. They don't have the same need to be beautiful in order to please. It is enough for them to be finished. The situation of the soul that has had such thoughts communicates itself to other souls and transfers its repose to them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/but-he-doesnt.md) > Like those dreams that have pleased us. They escape us and we vainly try to hold onto them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/like-those-dreams.md) > Thoughts that are light, clear, distinct, finished; and words that resemble their thoughts. Words that often retain their meaning even when they are detached from others and that please when isolated as sounds. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/thoughts-that-are.md) > One can advance a long time in life without aging. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-can-advance.md) > Enter oneself (we say). When one enters oneself, one sees God. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/enter-oneself-we-say.md) > This poetic nudity within words. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/this-poetic-nudity.md) > Let us look to beautiful poetry for the material of a beautiful prose. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/let-us-look.md) > To judge things of taste, we must give ourselves time to taste them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-judge-things.md) > Does talent have any need of passions? Yes, of many passions — repressed. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/does-talent-have.md) > Glory. Lovelier to desire than to possess. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/glory-lovelier-to-desire.md) > For simple light is perhaps still more beautiful than colors. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/for-simple-light.md) > If I weigh myself down, everything is lost. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/if-i-weigh.md) > The imagination is an eye where images remain forever. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-imagination-is-an-eye.md) > They do not know how to apply names to things. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/they-do-not.md) > Ideas never lack for words. It is words that lack ideas. As soon as the idea has come to its last degree of perfection, the word blossoms; or, if you like, it blossoms from the word that presents it and clothes it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/ideas-never-lack.md) > To know: it is to see inside oneself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-know-it.md) > The imagination has made more discoveries than the eye. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-imagination-has.md) > To think what we do not feel is to lie to ourselves, in the same way that we lie to others when we say to others what we do not think. Everything we think must be thought with our entire being, body, and soul. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-think-what.md) > It is very difficult to be wise (through the mind); it is not difficult to be wise occasionally and by chance, but it is difficult to be wise assiduously and by choice. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-very.md) > Perhaps (and probably) it would be true to say that we cannot conceive of anything except what we can see in our minds. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/perhaps-and-probably.md) > Adventurous minds, which wait for and receive their ideas only from chance. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/adventurous-minds-which.md) > To seek the truth. But, as you are seeking and as you are waiting, what will you do, what will you think, what will you practice, what rules will you follow? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-seek-the.md) > Memory. — It is a mirror, that retains, and retains forever. Nothing is lost in it, nothing is erased. But it can be tarnished. And then one sees nothing in it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/memory-it-is-a-mirror.md) > What our eyes see, our imagination can no longer see. The same thing cannot be the object of both kinds of seeing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-our-eyes.md) > God made life to be lived and not to be known. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/god-made-life.md) > When men are imbeciles, the one who is mad dominates the others. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-men-are.md) > To hide our eyes to make others believe we are hiding tears. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-hide-our.md) > Anger makes us adroit. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/anger-makes-us-adroit.md) > Where do ideas go? They go into the memory of God. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/where-do-ideas.md) > It is impossible to love the same person twice. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-impossible.md) > Democracy and slavery are inseparable. Why. Democracy as it existed among the ancients was no more than government by a number of men large enough to be called the people. But this designation is false. The true people, in such a state, the greatest number, the majority belong to the class of slaves, and slavery inevitably develops in a country governed this way, because it is impossible that those who spend their time making laws can make shoes and clothes, plant crops, work fields, etc. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/democracy-and-slavery.md) > We are worth more when someone looks at us. And, because of this, an eye is always watching us. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-are-worth.md) > The truth. They make it consist of nothing they cannot prove. The greatest happiness they find in it is being able to put forth incontestable assertions. This is what they like, and they consider it a sign of prestige, a prerogative, a power, a dignity, etc., a liberation from error. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-truth-they.md) > It is impossible for me to say something foolish without being aware of it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-impossible-for.md) > What good is modesty? — It makes us seem more beautiful when we are beautiful, and less ugly when we are ugly. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/what-good-is-modesty.md) > To compensate absence with memory. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-compensate-absence.md) > A thought is a thing as real as a cannonball. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/a-thought-is-a-thing.md) > To seek wisdom rather than truth. It is more within our grasp. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-seek-wisdom.md) > Everything is game except what makes the soul better or worse. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/everything-is-game.md) > Politeness is the art of bearing boredom without being bored. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/politeness-is-the.md) > Pride swells the brain. Vanity carries with it smoke, minds. Hatred tightens the heart. Love warms the lungs. Admiration stops the heart. We breathe through desire. We want to pump up all that delights, and dilates. Sadness is inaction. The love that comes from the blood, the love that comes from the soul. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/pride-swells-the.md) > Thoughts that cannot survive the open air and that evaporate as soon as we take them out of the room. To put them to the test of isolation. Take them out of the book where you found them, they do not endure. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/thoughts-that-cannot.md) > The staircase that leads to God. What does it matter if it is make-believe, if we really climb it? What difference does it make who builds it, or if it is made of marble or word, of brick, stone, or mud? The essential thing is that it be solid and that in climbing it we feel the peace that is inaccessible to those who do not climb it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-staircase-that.md) > Stars more beautiful to the eyes than the telescope that robs them of their illusions. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/stars-more-beautiful.md) > My soul lives in a place where the passions have passed by and where I have known them all. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/my-soul-lives.md) > Objects must be described only in order to describe the feelings they envoke in us. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/objects-must-be-described.md) > The mind can only create errors. Truths are not created, they exist; one can only see them, disentangle them, discover them, and expose them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-mind-can.md) > Illusion or play. Everything agreeable is in them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/illusion-or-play.md) > Don't cut what you can untie. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/dont-cut-what.md) > The things we know when not thinking of them. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-things-we-know.md) > Let us remember that everything is double. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/let-us-remember.md) > Close your eyes and you will see. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/close-your-eyes.md) > All these philosophers are no more than surgeons. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-these-philosophers.md) > The weakness of the dying slanders life. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-weakness-of-the.md) > To speak with his imagination, but to think with his reason. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-speak-with.md) > I have not seen you since, but you have often appeared to me in my dreams. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-have-not.md) > Solitude gives an I. I that gives solitude. It is in our thoughts, and the one the world gives, in our feelings. Because solitude grows accustomed to seeing, to contemplating; and the world, to acting for itself. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/solitude-gives-an.md) > Imprisoned in our bodies...and our soul has its windows. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/imprisoned-in-our.md) > To draw up in advance an exact and detailed plan is to deprive our minds of the pleasures of the encounter and the novelty that comes from executing the work. It is to make the execution insipid for us and consequently impossible in works that depends on enthusiasm and imagination. Such a plan is itself a half-work. It must be left imperfect if we want to please ourselves. We must say it cannont be finished. In fact, it must not be for a very good reason: it is impossible. We can, however, draw up such plans for works whose execution and accomplishment are a mechanical thing, a thing that depends above all others on the hand. This is suitable and even very useful for painters, for sculptors. Their senses, with each stroke of the brush or chisel, will find this novelty that did not exist for their minds. Forms and colors, which the imagination cannot represent to us as perfectly as the eye can, will offer the artist a horde of these encounters which are indispensable to giving genius pleasure in work. But the orator, the poet, and the philosopher will not find the same encouragement in writing down what they have already thought. Everything is one for them. Because the words they use have beauty only for the mind and, having been spoken in their head in the same way they are written on the page, the mind no longer has anything to discover in what it wants to say. A plan, however is necessary, but a plan that is vague, that has not been pinned down. We must have above all the notion of the beginning, the end, and the middle of our work. That is to say, we must choose its pitch and range, its pauses, and its objectives. The first word must give the color, the beginning determines the tone; the middle rules the measure, the time, the space, and the proportions. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-draw-up-in-advance.md) > When I see young people such as those of our day, I think that Heaven wishes to destroy the world. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-i-see.md) > Ask the young. They know everything. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/ask-the-young.md) > It is not facts, but rumors that cause emotions among the people. What is believed creates everything. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-not.md) > It is easy to understand God as long as you don't try to explain him. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-easy.md) > The people. They know how to know, but not how to choose. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-people-they.md) > The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-aim-of-an-argument.md) > Pleasures are always children, pains always have wrinkles. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/pleasures-are-always.md) > Eyes raised towards Heaven are always beautiful, whatever they be. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/eyes-raised-towards.md) > The direction of the mind is more important than its progress. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-direction-of-the.md) > Good impulses are naught, unless they become good actions. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/good-impulses-are.md) > Some find activity only in repose, and others repose only in movement. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/some-find-activity.md) > Divorce. Its existence and use should be determined only by the interests of the children. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/divorce-its-existence.md) > Are you listening to the ones who keep quiet? [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/are-you-listening.md) > God has commanded time to console the afflicted. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/god-has-commanded.md) > All luxury corrupts either the morals or the taste. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/all-luxury-corrupts.md) > We use up in the passions the stuff that was given us for happiness. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-use-up-in-the.md) > The good is worth more than the best. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-good-is-worth.md) > To teach is to learn twice over. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-teach-is-to-learn.md) > They cannot accustom themselves to lacking nothing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/they-cannot-accustom.md) > It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-better.md) > He who has no poetry in himself will find poetry in nothing. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/he-who-has-no.md) > I love to see two truths at the same time. Every good comparison gives the mind this advantage. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/i-love-to-see.md) > Here is the desert. In this silence, everything speaks to me: and in your noise, everything falls silent. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/here-is-the.md) > Thought forms in the soul the same way clouds form in the air. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/thought-forms-in-the.md) > Writing is closer to thinking than to speaking. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/writing-is-closer.md) > When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/when-you-go-in-search.md) > The imagination is the eye of the soul. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-imagination-is-the.md) > One loves to say what he knows, the other loves to say what he thinks. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/one-loves-to-say.md) > He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/he-who-has.md) > Wisdom is the strength of the weak. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/wisdom-is-the.md) > The number of books is infinite. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/the-number-of-books.md) > We comprehend the earth only when we have known heaven. Without the spiritual world the material world is a disheartening enigma. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-comprehend-the.md) > To be capable of respect is, in these days, almost as rare as to be worthy of it. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/to-be-capable.md)