Joseph Joubert

When men are imbeciles, the one who is mad dominates the others.

Anger makes us adroit.

Where do ideas go? They go into the memory of God.

It is impossible to love the same person twice.

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.

We are worth more when someone looks at us. And, because of this, an eye is always watching us.

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.

What good is modesty? — It makes us seem more beautiful when we are beautiful, and less ugly when we are ugly.

A thought is a thing as real as a cannonball.

To seek wisdom rather than truth. It is more within our grasp.

Everything is game except what makes the soul better or worse.

Politeness is the art of bearing boredom without being bored.