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 1470 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1470
French
p. 293930 novembre.
...Si l’esprit n’est maître du corps!...
Nécessité de cet empire. — Il faut qu’il en soit maître non pas seulement par un effort de la volonté, mais par l’énergie et la puissance de goûts plus exquis que les siens, par l’habitude de l’ordre et l’amour dominant de ce qui est le meilleur et le plus beau.
Le léger domine le lourd.
Quand la lumière domine l’ombre, quand le fin domine l’épais, quand le clair domine l’obscur, quand l’esprit domine les corps, l’intelligence la matière, alors le beau domine le difforme et le bien domine le mal.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 2940November 30.
...If the mind is not master of the body!...
Necessity of this dominion. — It must be master of the body not merely through an effort of will, but through the energy and power of tastes more exquisite than the body’s, through the habit of order and the ruling love of what is best and most beautiful.
The light rules the heavy.
When light rules shadow, when the fine rules the thick, when the clear rules the obscure, when spirit rules bodies, intelligence matter, then the beautiful rules the deformed and good rules evil.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1470
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.