WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Tue, 14 Jul 2026 23:08:56 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg astonish – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Joubert, Joseph -- Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 164 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 77] https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/69649/ https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/69649/#respond Tue, 04 Jun 2024 14:59:44 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=69649 The surprising surprises once; but the admirable is admired more and more.

[Ce qui étonne, étonne une fois; mais ce qui est admirable est de plus en plus admiré.]


Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) French moralist, philosopher, essayist, poet
Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 “Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers],” ¶ 164 (1850 ed.) [tr. Lyttelton (1899), ch. 22, ¶ 77]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

What astonishes astonishes once, but what is admirable is more and more admired.
[tr. Calvert (1866), ch. 15]

That which astonishes, astonishes once; but whatever is admirable becomes more and more admired.
[tr. Attwell (1896), ¶ 370]

The surprising astonishes once; but the admirable is admired more and more.
[tr. Collins (1928), ch. 22]

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