Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 1009 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1009
French
p. 2017La conviction est pour l’esprit une espèce de gehenne dont il se tire par l’aveu. Dupe de sa propre douleur, il y échappe en croyant ce qu’il ne croit pas. L’art de convaincre (dont j’ai vu des hommes si fiers) employé sur les hommes simples n’est pas plus merveilleux que celui de serrer les pouces à un enfant. Avec un habile, ce n’est que l’art du rétiaire entre les gladiateurs. Dans la pratique journalière, quand on en use avec empire, avec orgueil et tout de bon, c’est-à-dire en contraignant les autres à y conformer leurs actions, leurs goûts, leurs discours et leur vie, c’est un véritable art de bourreau, l’art de Bronte le questionnaire.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2018Conviction is for the mind a kind of torture from which it escapes by confession. Duped by its own pain, it escapes by believing what it does not believe. The art of convincing (of which I have seen men so proud), employed upon simple men, is no more marvelous than the art of squeezing a child’s thumbs. With a clever man, it is merely the art of the retiarius among gladiators. In daily practice, when one uses it imperiously, proudly, and in earnest, that is, by forcing others to conform their actions, tastes, speech, and life to it, it is truly the art of a torturer, the art of Bronte the torturer.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1009
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.