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 1130 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1130
French
p. 225912 novembre.
(Pour l’enfant.)
Parle-t’il? — Non, il ne nous parle pas, mais il nous entend. — Est-ce qu’il a fait cet arbre? — Non, mais il a fait le premier arbre dont tous les autres sont venus.
Il y a dans le ciel un grand livre. Tout ce qu’on dit, ce qu’on fait, ce qu’on pense s’y trouve écrit. — En quelle langue? — Dieu le scait, mais nous n’en scavons rien. Oui, ce que nous disons à cette heure, ce que nous dirons aujourd’hui et tout ce que nous pourrons dire tant que durera notre vie.
Peut-on le voir? — On peut le voir avec l’esprit. — Pourquoi pas autrement? — C’est que nos yeux nous en empêchent. Dieu n’est pas un corps comme nous : c’est pour cela qu’on ne peut pas le voir quand on a un corps. Il nous a donné son idée... Nous le scaurons lorsque nous serons dans le ciel... Un enfant ne peut pas scavoir ce que scait un homme, ni un homme tout ce que scait un ange, ni un ange tout ce que Dieu scait.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2260November 12.
(For the child.)
Does he speak? — No, he does not speak to us, but he hears us. — Did he make this tree? — No, but he made the first tree, from which all the others came.
There is a great book in heaven. Everything one says, what one does, what one thinks is written there. — In what language? — God knows, but we know nothing of it. Yes, what we are saying at this hour, what we shall say today, and everything we may say as long as our life lasts.
Can one see him? — One can see him with the mind. — Why not otherwise? — Because our eyes prevent us. God is not a body as we are: that is why one cannot see him when one has a body. He has given us his idea... We shall know it when we are in heaven... A child cannot know what a man knows, nor a man all that an angel knows, nor an angel all that God knows.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1130
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.