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 2858 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2858
French
p. 5715Esprits incapables de soin. Et : des pensées qui ont longtemps resté dans l’esprit. « J’ai habité avec la rose. » Et que : le même goût qui nous porte à bien faire nous force à refaire, à faire peu, à faire lentement, en nous rendant difficiles à approuver ce que nous avons fait. Et que : le mieux n’est ennemi du bien que lorsqu’on le cherche et non pas lorsqu’on le voit. Bien plus, on ne fait bien que lorsqu’on scait ou est le mieux et lorsqu’on s’en est assuré, qu’on l’a touché et qu’on le tient en sa puissance. Et que : ce ne sont pas les choses qui plaisent, mais l’impression de lui même que l’esprit y met et y laisse, car il n’y a que l’esprit qui plaise à l’esprit, l’âme à l’âme. Excepté en une seule chose, dont la puissance à laquelle l’esprit prend peu de part est indépendante de la pensée et de la volonté, étant nécessaire à la multiplication des âmes et à la perpétuité du genre humain.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5716Minds incapable of care. And: thoughts that have long remained in the mind. “I have lived with the rose.” And that: the same taste that leads us to do well forces us to do again, to do little, to do slowly, by making us reluctant to approve what we have done. And that: the better is the enemy of the good only when we seek it, not when we see it. More than that, we do well only when we know where the better lies and have made sure of it, have touched it and hold it in our power. And that: it is not things that please, but the impression of itself that the mind puts and leaves in them, for only mind pleases mind, soul soul. Except in a single thing, whose power, in which the mind takes little part, is independent of thought and will, being necessary to the multiplication of souls and the perpetuity of the human race.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2858
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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.