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 2892 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2892
French
p. 5783Bornes des esprits. Mais les esprits y peuvent échapper par mille issues. Ils sont de feu; l’esprit est flamme. Il peut consumer ses barrières et passer par mille ouvertures. Il ne faut pas se le figurer comme de l’eau dans un vase de pierre, mais comme un feu dans une chambre. Il n’est pas borné comme un corps.
Aussi, pour être vrai invariablement (et pour le bien connoître) il vaut mieux en considérer l’étenduë que les limites, car son étendue est en lui et ses limites hors de lui en ce qui change.
Nᵃ aussi bᵉ. cet amour des esprits qui est en ceux ci un simple goût et dans les autres un besoin.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5784Bounds of minds. But minds can escape them by a thousand exits. They are of fire; mind is flame. It can consume its barriers and pass through a thousand openings. One must not picture it as water in a stone vessel, but as a fire in a room. It is not bounded like a body.
Thus, to be invariably true (and to know it well), it is better to consider its extent than its limits, for its extent is within it and its limits outside it, in what changes.
Nᵃ also bᵉ. this love of minds that in some is a mere taste and in others a need.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2892
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.