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 2782 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2782
French
p. 5563Ne diroit-on pas que la place qu’un grand homme laisse vuide à sa mort est un poste auquel il faut nécessairement nommer quelqu’un, quel qu’il puisse être? Quand ce peuple perd un grand homme, il s’en fait un autre comme s’il avoit plus besoin d’admiration que de mérite. Lekain n’est plus, alors il applaudit Laffond. Il a admiré Legouvé et l’a tenu pour grand poëte, quand nul autre ne se montroit. Nous n’avons rien de mieux (dit-il) ou c’est ce que nous avons de mieux. Mais si votre mieux est du mal? D’ailleurs n’avez-vous pas des livres?
Je n’appellerai point premier celui qui n’aura pas en soi une primauté radicale. Car il ne s’agit pas ainsi de nombre et de supputation, mais d’excellence essentielle.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5564Would one not say that the place a great man leaves empty at his death is a post to which someone must necessarily be appointed, whoever he may be? When this people loses a great man, it makes itself another, as though it had more need of admiration than of merit. Lekain is no more, so it applauds Laffond. It admired Legouvé and held him a great poet when no other appeared. We have nothing better (it says), or this is the best we have. But what if your best is bad? Besides, do you not have books?
I will not call first the man who does not have a radical primacy in himself. For the matter is not one of number and reckoning, but of essential excellence.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2782
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.