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

— Joseph Joubert, The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, 1883

About Joseph Joubert

1754 – 1824

French moralist and essayist, author of the "Pensées".

“Old age deprives the intelligent man only of qualities useless to wisdom.”

“We comprehend the earth only when we have known heaven.”

“Some find activity only in repose, and others repose only in movement.”

“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty!”

“We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands; we will speak our own minds.”

“Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.”

“Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.”

“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness?”

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”