Joseph Joubert

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) was a French moralist and essayist best known for the notebooks in which he recorded aphorisms, reflections, and literary judgments. Born in Montignac, he was educated in Toulouse and later lived in Paris, moving in intellectual circles that included leading writers and thinkers of his day. Joubert published little during his lifetime, preferring private notes on ethics, religion, education, and style. After his death, friends and admirers edited and issued selections from his papers, bringing his concise, meditative prose to a wider audience. His reputation rests on these posthumous fragments and their influence on later readers.