Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

Explore the Lexicon

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I[LOCKE] · Entry 2448

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Page · Branch 2448 of 3781

[LOCKE] · Entry 2448

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4895

26 mars.

Pag. 201. Il a raison. L’usage des cuisiniers chez les grands seigneurs a fait que les bonnes cuisinières sont devenues rares chez les simples bourgeois.

Pag. 205. « Répandues dans tout le royaume ». Oui et surtout affin de le rendre présent partout et le voisin de tout le monde.

Pag. 241. Tout cela est un bel éloge de ce qui n’est plus et une juste recommandation de ce qui ne peut plus être.

* Sur les anciens. C’est une opinion qu’il a, non pas en théorème, mais en corollaire et par la seule force des conséquences à déduire de son systhème.

* Puissance et force. Celle-ci doit toujours frapper les yeux lorsqu’on veut donner l’idée de l’autre à l’esprit. Bien vu.

Pag. 269. Ce choix de l’auteur est contraire à tous les motifs qu’il a mis en avant. L’anneau d’or ne se voit pas. Il n’y a de très visible que ce qui est dans les vêtemens, comme il le dit plus bas, page 27[…].

Pag. 344. Cette défaveur jettée sur tout ce qui n’est qu’opinion, en comparaison de ce qui est sentiment, dans toutes les choses de la vie, pourroit avoir de grands effets sur le public.

Pag. 355. Le « mépris », non; mais le détachement.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [LOCKE]

p. 4896

March 26.

Page 201. He is right. The employment of male cooks by the great lords has made good female cooks rare among ordinary townspeople.

Page 205. “Spread throughout the kingdom.” Yes, and above all to make him present everywhere and everyone’s neighbor.

Page 241. All this is a fine eulogy of what is no more and a just recommendation of what can no longer be.

* On the ancients. It is an opinion he holds, not as a theorem, but as a corollary and through the force alone of the consequences to be deduced from his system.

* Power and force. The latter must always strike the eyes when one wishes to give the mind an idea of the former. Well seen.

Page 269. This choice of the author’s runs contrary to all the motives he has put forward. The gold ring is not seen. Nothing is very visible except what is in the clothing, as he says farther on, page 27[…].

Page 344. This disfavor cast on all that is merely opinion, in comparison with what is feeling, in all the things of life, could have great effects upon the public.

Page 355. “Contempt,” no; but detachment.

T143.The French contrasts cuisiniers in great households with cuisinières among the bourgeois. The English makes that gender contrast visible. Ordinary townspeople is used for simples bourgeois without assigning a modern political doctrine to the class.

T144.The quoted Répandues is feminine plural; neither its noun nor the following masculine le is named in this paragraph. The English retains the fragment and him without adding an inferred person or institution.

T145.Celle-ci refers to force, the second term, and l’autre to puissance, the first. The English keeps that ordering and the distinction between striking the eyes and giving an idea to the mind.

T146.The final page number is clipped after 27 in this facsimile and remains 27[…]. The translation does not guess the missing digit.

T147.Sentiment can include inward conviction or apprehension as well as feeling. Feeling is retained in the explicit contrast with opinion, without converting either term into a particular philosophical doctrine.

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.