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 235 of 3781
YEAR 1791 · Entry 235
French
p. 469Platon. — Avant de me répondre, devenez plus doux et meilleur.
Platon. — Ces êtres invisibles ont le mouvement, la vie et la pensée, la volonté, la passion, etc. Il ne leur manque que le sang, les nerfs, etc.
Platon. — La faculté de se mouvoir est un indice de mouvement interne, de vie, de pensée et de volonté.
Platon. — Il n’est pas permis au législateur d’ignorer les choses divines.
Platon appelle roi quiconque est capable par son ascendant et ses lumières de régir et guider les hommes.
La loi (dit-il) est alors comme un homme inflexible et têtu.
D’abord faire des mœurs au lieu de faire des loixs.
Platon. — Tout gouvernement est, de soi-même, une chose durable et robuste.
Platon. — La musique, les arts n’expriment que des simulacres. (Il a raison.)
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1791
p. 470Plato. — Before answering me, become gentler and better.
Plato. — These invisible beings have movement, life, and thought, will, passion, etc. They lack only blood, nerves, etc.
Plato. — The faculty of moving oneself is a sign of inward movement, of life, thought, and will.
Plato. — The legislator is not permitted to be ignorant of divine things.
Plato calls king anyone capable, through his ascendancy and understanding, of ruling and guiding men.
The law (he says) is then like an inflexible, stubborn man.
First make customs instead of making laws.
Plato. — Every government is, of itself, a lasting and robust thing.
Plato. — Music and the arts express only simulacra. (He is right.)
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1791 · Entry 235
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.