Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
English Page · Branch 3250 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3250
French
p. 6499L’esprit n’a point de part à la véritable poésie, elle sort de l’âme seule. Elle vient dans la rêverie, mais quoi qu’on fasse la réflexion ne la trouve jamais. Don du ciel! qui l’a mise en nous!
L’esprit cependant la prépare en offrant les objets à l’âme. La réflexion, qui les déterre en quelque sorte, y sert aussi par la même raison.
L’émotion et le scavoir, voilà sa cause et voilà sa matière. La matière sans cause ne sert de rien. La cause sans matière vaudroit mieux. Une belle disposition qui reste oisive se fait au moins sentir à celui qui l’a et le rend heureux.
Par une certaine disposition d’esprit marquée à laquelle un langage sans caractère ne seroit pas correspondant. La prose ne lui suffit pas, s’il n’y entre quelque mesure, quelque cadence, quelque rythme.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6500The mind has no part in true poetry, it comes from the soul alone. It comes in reverie, but whatever one does, reflection never finds it. Gift of heaven! Which has placed it within us!
The mind nevertheless prepares it by offering objects to the soul. Reflection, which unearths them, as it were, also serves the purpose for the same reason.
Emotion and knowledge, there are its cause and there its matter. Matter without cause serves no purpose. Cause without matter would be worth more. A beautiful disposition that remains idle at least makes itself felt to the one who has it and makes him happy.
Through a certain marked disposition of mind to which a language without character would not correspond. Prose does not suffice for it unless some measure, some cadence, some rhythm enters into it.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3250
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.