WIST

Words, like eyeglasses, obscure everything they do not make clear.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
(Attributed)

Never cut what you can untie.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
(Attributed)

It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
(Attributed)

To teach is to learn twice.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
(Attributed)

Those who never retract their opinions love themselves more than they love truth.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees

All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees (1806)

The end of an argument or discussion should be, not victory, but enlightenment.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensées (1838) (tr. H P Collins (1928))

It is an element of all happiness to fancy that we deserve it.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensées (1838) [tr. Collins (1928)]

Nations love dangers, and when there are none to be found create them to fill the want.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensées (1838) [tr. Collins (1928)]

All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees, “1806″ (1838) [tr. Auster (1983)]

Justice is truth in action.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees, #203 (1838) [tr. Attwell (1877)]

Children have more need of models than of critics.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees, #261 (1838) [tr. H. Attwell (1877)]
(also attrib. Carolyn Coats)

A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away.

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist
Pensees, 1809 (1838) [tr. Auster (1983)]