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 1774 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1774
French
p. 3547Grouper. L’art de grouper. L’art de grouper ses paroles et ses pensées. Alors il faut que la pensée, que la phrase et la période s’encadrent de leur propre forme, subsistent de leur propre masse, se portent de leur propre poids.
Labruyère (disoit Boileau) s’étoit épargné la peine des transitions. Il s’en étoit donné un[e] autre, c’est ce[lle] des aggroupemens.
Pour la transition, un seul rapport suffit. Mais pour l’aggrégation il en faut mille, car il faut une convenance entière, naturelle, unique.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3548To group. The art of grouping. The art of grouping one’s words and thoughts. Then the thought, the sentence, and the period must frame themselves by their own form, subsist by their own mass, carry themselves by their own weight.
Labruyère (Boileau used to say) had spared himself the trouble of transitions. He had given himself [another]: [that] of grouping.
For a transition, a single relation suffices. But for aggregation a thousand are needed, for there must be an entire, natural, unique congruity.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1774
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.