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 1588 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1588
French
p. 317517 février.
De la lumière. — En faire une substance distincte des astres dont le mouvement nous la distribue. Qu’on se représente ces roues grossières de nos moulins qui brisent et réduisent en vapeur qui se répand de tous côtés l’eau qui tombe dessus. C’est ainsi que par eux la lumière est disséminée. Ils en arrosent l’univers. Ou bien qu’on les conçoive comme des lampes où la lumière afflue et se réunit comme une huile éthérée qui les remplit. Ils la distillent par des milliers de mèches invisibles.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3176February 17.
On light. — To make it a substance distinct from the stars whose movement distributes it to us. Let one picture the coarse wheels of our mills, which break up the water falling on them and reduce it to vapor spreading in all directions. So it is that light is disseminated by them. They sprinkle the universe with it. Or let one conceive them as lamps into which light flows and gathers like an ethereal oil that fills them. They distill it through thousands of invisible wicks.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1588
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.