"Ask the young. They know everything"
About this Quote
Wry and compact, Joubert’s line balances irony and counsel. A master of aphorism in post-Revolutionary France, he watched eras turn under the pressure of youthful zeal and the sobering correction of experience. The daring claim that the young “know everything” is patently untrue, which is precisely why it stings and amuses: it exposes the confidence of early certainty while hinting that older minds should not dismiss the fresh gaze that produces it.
Youth often inhabits the first plateau of understanding, where explanations are clean, causes are singular, and solutions feel immediate. That crispness is intoxicating and productive; it fuels revolutions, discoveries, and the refusal to accept the merely customary. Yet maturity tends to trade answers for questions, accumulating complexities, exceptions, and second thoughts. The paradox is that knowing more often enlarges doubt. Joubert’s jest places these stages side by side: the young walk quickly because the road looks straight; the old walk carefully because they have learned where it bends.
There is also a practical angle. In any age of transformation, ask those born into the new conditions how the world works. They read the signs without translating them through outdated frames. Even today, the young often see the contours of emerging technologies, norms, and risks sooner than those whose habits were formed earlier. To consult them is not to surrender judgment; it is to widen perception.
The line, then, is both gentle mockery and quiet instruction. Do not be seduced by the swagger of certainty, whether youthful or mature. Let youthful confidence energize inquiry while subjecting it to the discipline of doubt. Wisdom does not silence the young; it listens, tests, and integrates. By teasing the bravado of omniscience, Joubert points to a deeper knowing that blends freshness with humility, speed with patience, and the bright flame of first insight with the steady light of experience.
Youth often inhabits the first plateau of understanding, where explanations are clean, causes are singular, and solutions feel immediate. That crispness is intoxicating and productive; it fuels revolutions, discoveries, and the refusal to accept the merely customary. Yet maturity tends to trade answers for questions, accumulating complexities, exceptions, and second thoughts. The paradox is that knowing more often enlarges doubt. Joubert’s jest places these stages side by side: the young walk quickly because the road looks straight; the old walk carefully because they have learned where it bends.
There is also a practical angle. In any age of transformation, ask those born into the new conditions how the world works. They read the signs without translating them through outdated frames. Even today, the young often see the contours of emerging technologies, norms, and risks sooner than those whose habits were formed earlier. To consult them is not to surrender judgment; it is to widen perception.
The line, then, is both gentle mockery and quiet instruction. Do not be seduced by the swagger of certainty, whether youthful or mature. Let youthful confidence energize inquiry while subjecting it to the discipline of doubt. Wisdom does not silence the young; it listens, tests, and integrates. By teasing the bravado of omniscience, Joubert points to a deeper knowing that blends freshness with humility, speed with patience, and the bright flame of first insight with the steady light of experience.
Quote Details
| Topic | Youth |
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