# Quote — Joseph Joubert, The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert

> 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.

- Author: [Joseph Joubert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert.md)
- Book: [The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/it-is-not-simply

## More from this book

> 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)