From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordModestie and modeste concern manner, self-estimation and limits of judgment as well as outward appearance.
- In JoubertThe clothing maxim attributes a formative effect to modest dress: appearance can help make a disposition.
- In this editionThe English translation uses modest and modesty, and preserves both some qualifications in the ignorance sentence.
- A place to beginModest clothing is said to shape those who wear it.
- English renderings
- modest; modesty
Meaning
Modestie and modeste concern manner, self-estimation and limits of judgment as well as outward appearance. They are related to, but not exhausted by, pudeur.
Use in the book
The clothing maxim attributes a formative effect to modest dress: appearance can help make a disposition. The inward account locates touching modesty less in distrust of oneself than in a just estimate of human nature, calling it both illumination and virtue. The statement that some ignorance is needed for some modesty introduces a limit to confident knowing, not a universal praise of ignorance. These witnesses give modest conduct an intellectual and ethical range that is lost if every modestie is explained only as sexual reserve or embarrassment.
Places to read
- I, p. 169, entry 6, ¶1Modest clothing is said to shape those who wear it.
- I, p. 401, entry 9, ¶1Modesty arises from a just estimate of human nature.
- II, p. 712, entry 6, ¶1Limited ignorance is linked with limited modesty.
Translation in this edition
The English translation uses modest and modesty, and preserves both some qualifications in the ignorance sentence. The self-estimation note remains a fragment and keeps light as an image alongside virtue. The lexicon distinguishes this article from Modesty, whose principal French term is pudeur.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 169, 401; II, pp. 712.