Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
English Page · Branch 1324 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1324
French
p. 2647Ce qui est si achevé, si exact par l’expression et, en un mot, si parfait a une espèce de forme tellement déterminée et solide que l’imagination du lecteur, qui n’a rien à y faire et à y influer, ne s’y ouvre point comme la mémoire pour se l’approprier et le retenir. On laisse ce mémoire devant soi, pour l’admirer, mais hors de soi. On en est frappé et non pénétré. Il n’y a rien là de fluide ou de moëlleux, à moins que la pensée n’ait par elle-même une telle æthéréité qu’elle en dématérialise la parole.
Ajoutez : ce qui est parfait, si achevé se retient et se fait peu relire. (Comment réunir ces deux mérites?)
Nota. — Cela remuë l’esprit, mais ne le fait pas se remuer. Ces ressorts nous rendent les nôtres inutiles.
Ce qu’on appelle onction de style y suppose toujours une certaine fluidité, une inconsistance huileuse.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 2648What is so finished, so exact in expression, and, in a word, so perfect has a kind of form so determinate and solid that the reader’s imagination, having nothing to do in it and no influence to exert on it, does not open itself to it as memory does, to make it its own and retain it. One leaves this memoir before oneself to admire, but outside oneself. One is struck by it, not penetrated. There is nothing fluid or supple there, unless the thought itself has such ethereality that it dematerializes the words.
Add: what is perfect, so finished, stays in the memory and gets little rereading. (How to unite these two merits?)
Note. — It moves the mind, but does not make the mind move itself. These springs render our own useless to us.
What is called unction of style always presupposes a certain fluidity in it, an oily lack of solidity.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1324
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.