Who said: "The worst thing about reading new books..."

"The worst thing about reading new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones."
— Joseph Joubert

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) was a French moralist and essayist. He attended a religious college in Toulouse from the age of 14 where he later taught until he was 26, after which he went to Paris where he later became friends with the writer and statesman Francis René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand (one of the founders of romanticism in French literature, whose name lives on through the eponymously named Chateaubriand steak, created by his chef).

Joubert published nothing during his lifetime but wrote copious letters and filled many notebooks with thoughts about the nature of humanity, literature and other subjects. After his death his widow entrusted Chateaubriand with his notes some of which were published in 1838 in a volume titled Recueil des pensées de M. Joubert (Collected Thoughts of Mr. Joubert). Joubert's Pensées have been published in many languages, including English.

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