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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French Page · Branch 2776 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2776
French
p. 555119 février (samedi gras).
Tout consiste à trouver l’idée qui peut les rendre intelligibles; et, comme dans les arts les belles formes, ainsi dans la métaphysique les belles idées. Il faut ici de la musique, non de l’arithmétique, de la perspective en exécution et non de la géométrie, des images non des figures, car il ne s’agit point des corps.
Mettre la morale en calcul (en comptes de gains et de pertes), la métaphysique en physique, c’est les détruire l’une et l’autre.
Il est des manières de concevoir où l’esprit est porté par sa propre nature et peut-être aussi par un apperçu confus de la vérité qui nous luit. Telle est cette idée, etc. « Ce rayon émané de l’essence suprême ». Je cite les poëtes parce qu’ils ont de ces idées plus que tous les autres auteurs. Aussi trouvez-vous les mêmes idées chez les poëtes de toutes les nations. Il est aussi pour l’esprit des méthodes qu’il se fait à lui même pour sa commodité; et celles qui lui sont naturelles se retrouvent partout, à la Chine et à Ispahan, comme à Athènes. Lisez Platon et Aristote, lisez les classiques chinois et la logique des Arabes.
Hippocrate disoit de son art : « il s’apprend et (cependant) il ne peut s’enseigner » (tout entier). Il faut en dire autant de la métaphysique.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5552February 19 (Shrovetide Saturday).
Everything consists in finding the idea that can make them intelligible; and, as beautiful forms in the arts, so beautiful ideas in metaphysics. What is needed here is music, not arithmetic, perspective in execution and not geometry, images not figures, for bodies are not at issue.
To turn morals into calculation (into accounts of gains and losses), metaphysics into physics, is to destroy them both.
There are ways of conceiving toward which the mind is borne by its own nature and perhaps also by a confused glimpse of the truth that shines for us. Such is this idea, etc. “This ray emanating from the supreme essence.” I quote poets because they have more of these ideas than all other authors. Thus you find the same ideas among the poets of all nations. The mind also has methods it makes for itself for its convenience; and those natural to it are found everywhere, in China and Isfahan as in Athens. Read Plato and Aristotle, read the Chinese classics and the logic of the Arabs.
Hippocrates said of his art: “it is learned and (yet) it cannot be taught” (entirely). One must say as much of metaphysics.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2776
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.