Joseph Joubert Quotes

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.

When a thing is not worth overdoing, leave it alone!

When I finish dressing before a night out and have put on all the accessories, I usually look at myself in the mirror long and hard and then end up removing something. Whether it's a belt, bracelet or a bauble, less is always more.

Less is more. You should wear earrings or bracelets, but not both.

Don't go overboard with too many accessories and too many different things.

Tasteful rather than expensive.

The fault of bad taste is usually in over-dressing. Quality not effect, is the standard to seek for.

To my mind that literature is best and most enduring which is characterized by a noble simplicity.

Don't think too much of style.

In thy apparel avoid singularity, profuseness, and gaudiness. Be not too early in the fashion, nor too late. Decency is half way between affectation and neglect. The body is the shell of the soul, apparel is the husk of that shell; the husk often tells you what the kernel is.

You shall abstain, shall abstain. That is the eternal song.

It is not necessary to move mountains in order to prove one's faith.

Simplified spelling is all right, but, like chastity, you can carry it too far.

If I've learned anything in my 30s, it's about holding back a little bit.

Audacity in wooing is a great virtue, but a man must measure even his virtues.

I have to rein myself in sometimes.

Restraint never ruins one's health.

Less is more only when more is too much.

Sometimes you're overthinking, you convince yourself to get out of it and you're like, "Ah I shoulda did that!" You can't live life with regrets. Sometimes you just gotta indulge. But in the same breath, you gotta have restraint and self-control too.

A man is the prisoner of his power. A topical memory makes him an almanac; a talent for debate, disputant; skill to get money makes him a miser, that is, a beggar. Culture reduces these inflammations by invoking the aid of other powers against the dominant talent, and by appealing to the rank of powers. It watches success.

Ask God for temp'rance. That's th' appliance only Which your disease requires.

Remember this - that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life.

Ask the gods nothing excessive.

Just because you’re allowed to use magic now you don’t have to whip your wands out for every tiny little thing!

I'm practicing the discipline of not having to have the last word.