--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It may be said that it is with our…" description: "\"It may be said that it is with our thoughts as with our flowers. Those whose expression is simple carry their seed with them; those that are double by ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/468/joseph-joubert-1017_charm_it-may-be-said-that-it-is-with-our-thoug_1923116.png" --- # It may be said that it is with our thoughts as with our… ![“It may be said that it is with our thoughts as with our flowers. Those whose expression is simple carry their seed with them; those that are double by their richness and pomp charm the mind, but produce nothing.” quote by Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/468/joseph-joubert-1017_charm_it-may-be-said-that-it-is-with-our-thoug_1923116.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/468/joseph-joubert-1017_charm_it-may-be-said-that-it-is-with-our-thoug_1923116.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/468/joseph-joubert-1017_charm_it-may-be-said-that-it-is-with-our-thoug_1923116.png) > “It may be said that it is with our thoughts as with our flowers. Those whose expression is simple carry their seed with them; those that are double by their richness and pomp charm the mind, but produce nothing.” [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Compares thoughts to flowers, suggesting simple ideas are more fruitful than overly elaborate, showy ones that lack substance. **In simple terms:** Simple ideas are more productive than ornate ones. Key Takeaway Value clarity over complexity. Themes simplicity thoughtfulness authenticity productivity Mood contemplative instructive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - writing - design - teaching - leadership Key Concepts philosophy of ideas minimalism creative expression Questions to Reflect On - When is elaboration beneficial? - How can you simplify without losing meaning? A Different Perspective Complexity can be necessary for depth in some fields. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Charm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/charm/) [Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expression/) [Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Flowers Expression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flowers-expression-2965313/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/may/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Our thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-thoughts/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Produce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/produce/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Richness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/richness/) [Said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said/) [Said Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/said-thoughts-2965314/) [Seeds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seeds/) [Simple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simple/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) [Thoughts Flowers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts-flowers-2965312/) ## Related quotes > [“But then I said to myself, What can't be cured must be endured...and I looked up at the branches of the apple tree above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/but-then-i-said-to-myself-what-can-t-be-cured-must-be-endured-and-i/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/flowers-have-an-expression-of-countenance-as-much-as-men-or-animals/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [The instinctive and universal taste of mankind selects flowers for the expression of its finest sympathies, their beauty and their fleetingness serving to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-stillman-hillard/the-instinctive-and-universal-taste-of-mankind-selects-flowers-for/) [George Stillman Hillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-stillman-hillard/) > [Without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/without-our-fully-realizing-it-flowers-would-become-for-us-an/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Beauty has so many charms, one knows not how to speak against it; and when it happens that a graceful figure is the habitation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-sterne/beauty-has-so-many-charms-one-knows-not-how-to-speak-against-it-and/) [Laurence Sterne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-sterne/) > [Thus, if the clarity of our thoughts comes through better in a play of words, then the wordplay is good. One must know how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/thus-if-the-clarity-of-our-thoughts-comes-through-better-in-a-play-of/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Criticism even should not be without its charms. When quite devoid of all amenities, it is no longer literary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/criticism-even-should-not-be-without-its-charms-when-quite-devoid-of/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Then shoulder to shoulder! Let us engirdle the little circle of the earth with the chains that bind us to each other. To one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-mickiewicz/then-shoulder-to-shoulder-let-us-engirdle-the-little-circle-of-the/) [Adam Mickiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-mickiewicz/) > [How many times have you prayed or asked or said you needed help, when suddenly somebody showed up in your life? We are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agapi-stassinopoulos/how-many-times-have-you-prayed-or-asked-or-said-you-needed-help-when/) [Agapi Stassinopoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agapi-stassinopoulos/) > [Ah, what is it we send up thither, where our thoughts are either a dissonance or a sweetness and a grace?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-macdonald/ah-what-is-it-we-send-up-thither-where-our-thoughts-are-either-a/) [George MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-macdonald/) > [Metaphor isn't just a fancy turn of speech. It shapes our thoughts and feelings, reaches out to grasp new experience, and even binds our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-richardson/metaphor-isn-t-just-a-fancy-turn-of-speech-it-shapes-our-thoughts-and/) [James Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-richardson/) > [The World's a Printing-House, our words, our thoughts, Our deeds, are characters of several sizes. Each soul is a Compos'tor, of whose faults The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/the-world-s-a-printing-house-our-words-our-thoughts-our-deeds-are/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [Knowing does not always allow us to prevent, but at least the things that we know, we hold them, if not in our hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/knowing-does-not-always-allow-us-to-prevent-but-at-least-the-things/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Jobs and money are never the primary cause of stress. Thinking, negative thinking causes stress. The real cause of all problems lie in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/jobs-and-money-are-never-the-primary-cause-of-stress-thinking/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) ## More by Joseph Joubert > [Living requires but little life; doing requires much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/living-requires-but-little-life-doing-requires-much/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [A false mind is false in everything, just as a cross eye always looks askant. But one may err once, nay, a hundred times,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/a-false-mind-is-false-in-everything-just-as-a-cross-eye-always-looks/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Criticism even should not be without its charms. When quite devoid of all amenities, it is no longer literary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/criticism-even-should-not-be-without-its-charms-when-quite-devoid-of/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [What a man knows only through feeling can be explained only through enthusiasm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/what-a-man-knows-only-through-feeling-can-be-explained-only-through/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Imagination is the eye of the soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/imagination-is-the-eye-of-the-soul/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [One man finds in religion his literature and his science, another finds in it his joy and his duty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/one-man-finds-in-religion-his-literature-and-his-science-another/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Which is more misshapen,--religion without virtue, or virtue without religion?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/which-is-more-misshapen-religion-without-virtue-or-virtue-without/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [How many people become abstract as a way of appearing profound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/how-many-people-become-abstract-as-a-way-of-appearing-profound/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [How many books there are whose reputation is made that would not obtain it were it now to make?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/how-many-books-there-are-whose-reputation-is-made-that-would-not/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [God has commanded Time to console the unhappy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/god-has-commanded-time-to-console-the-unhappy/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [We shall always keep a spare corner in our heads to give passing hospitality to our friends' opinion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/we-shall-always-keep-a-spare-corner-in-our-heads-to-give-passing/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Agriculture engenders good sense, and good sense of an excellent kind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/agriculture-engenders-good-sense-and-good-sense-of-an-excellent-kind/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [We may convince others by our arguements, but we can only persuade them by their own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/we-may-convince-others-by-our-arguements-but-we-can-only-persuade/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [To teach is to learn twice. About all some parents accomplish in life is to send a child to Harvard. The purpose of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/to-teach-is-to-learn-twice-about-all-some-parents-accomplish-in-life/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Grace is in garments, in movements, in manners; beauty in the nude, and in forms. This is true of bodies; but when we speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/grace-is-in-garments-in-movements-in-manners-beauty-in-the-nude-and/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) [Explore all 306 Joseph Joubert quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) ## More Charm quotes > [Charm is a cunning self-forgetfulness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-stead/charm-is-a-cunning-self-forgetfulness/) [Christina Stead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-stead/) > [Every woman thinks herself attractive; even the plainest is satisfied with the charms she deems that she possesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/every-woman-thinks-herself-attractive-even-the-plainest-is-satisfied/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [Modesty is the gentle art of enhancing your charm by pretending not to be aware of it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-herford/modesty-is-the-gentle-art-of-enhancing-your-charm-by-pretending-not/) [Oliver Herford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-herford/) > [Talk health. The dreary, never-changing tale Of mortal maladies is worn and stale. You cannot charm, or interest, or please By harping in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-wheeler-wilcox/talk-health-the-dreary-never-changing-tale-of-mortal-maladies-is-worn/) [Ella Wheeler Wilcox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-wheeler-wilcox/) > [I'm an old school guy and love the guys in the monster suits and JAWS; even though everyone makes fun of the shark I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-fessenden/i-m-an-old-school-guy-and-love-the-guys-in-the-monster-suits-and-jaws/) [Larry Fessenden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-fessenden/) > [Every woman has the instinct, the propensity to profit from her charms, and there's a lot to be said for giving oneself without love,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leopold-von-sacher-masoch/every-woman-has-the-instinct-the-propensity-to-profit-from-her-charms/) [Leopold von Sacher-Masoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leopold-von-sacher-masoch/) > [I don't know that I'm a free spirit or anything like that. I just have my own way of doing things. That's the charm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-schultz/i-don-t-know-that-i-m-a-free-spirit-or-anything-like-that-i-just-have/) [Dave Schultz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-schultz/) > [In each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/in-each-studio-there-is-a-human-being-dressed-in-the-full-regalia-of/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [“It's a part of life. You never know what you are going to get; you just have to be strong enough to deal with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-hill/it-s-a-part-of-life-you-never-know-what-you-are-going-to-get-you-just/) [Melissa Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-hill/) > [Even after marrying Mallika, I feel that I am her boyfriend. In fact, I believe this feeling enhances the charm and fun of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zayed-khan/even-after-marrying-mallika-i-feel-that-i-am-her-boyfriend-in-fact-i/) [Zayed Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zayed-khan/) > [Criticism even should not be without its charms. When quite devoid of all amenities, it is no longer literary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/criticism-even-should-not-be-without-its-charms-when-quite-devoid-of/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [“Never trust charm, it's the most powerful weapon in the devil's armory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-gilbert/never-trust-charm-it-s-the-most-powerful-weapon-in-the-devil-s-armory/) [Anthony Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-gilbert/) > [Paul Taylor's 'Offenbach Overtures' has lots of zip and charm, and its pair of dueling soldiers in red, who end up starry-eyed about each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-gottlieb/paul-taylor-s-offenbach-overtures-has-lots-of-zip-and-charm-and-its/) [Robert Gottlieb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-gottlieb/) > [Time's stern tide, with cold Oblivion's wave, Shall soon dissolve each fair, each fading charm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-seward/time-s-stern-tide-with-cold-oblivion-s-wave-shall-soon-dissolve-each/) [Anna Seward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-seward/) > [Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kennedy/washington-is-a-city-of-southern-efficiency-and-northern-charm/) [John F. Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kennedy/) [Browse all 1,415 Charm quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/charm/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It may be said that it is with our thoughts as with our flowers. 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