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 3768 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3768
French
p. 7535Manière, de manie. Si elle est involontaire, c’est un tic. Si elle est naturelle, on l’appelle originalité. Si elle est de choix et de pratique, d’industrie, elle est jargon, charlatanisme.
Jamais homme n’eut autant que Voltaire ce que nous appellons de la manière. Il en a partout dans ses lettres, dans ses grands vers surtout, dans ses histoires beaucoup moins. Dans ses lettres : « Je m’imagine que votre poëme sera rempli d’une philosophie sublime. Le siècle est monté à ce ton là. Vous n’y avez pas peu contribué... » Dans ses grands vers etc.
Ses mots de manière étoient : monde, globe, sublime, brillant, philosophie, philosophique, le genre humain, etc. Ses attitudes de manière étoient la capriole, l’éclat de voix. Et remarquez qu’il n’y a pas seulement en lui des manières de style, mais aussi des manières d’esprit. Toutes chez lui consistent à esquiver.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7536Manner, from mania. If it is involuntary, it is a tic. If it is natural, it is called originality. If it comes from choice and practice, from contrivance, it is jargon, charlatanism.
No man ever had as much as Voltaire of what we call manner. He has it everywhere in his letters, above all in his long lines of verse, much less in his histories. In his letters: “I imagine that your poem will be filled with a sublime philosophy. The age has risen to that pitch. You have contributed no little to it...” In his long lines of verse, etc.
His words of manner were: world, globe, sublime, brilliant, philosophy, philosophical, the human race, etc. His postures of manner were the capriole, the burst of voice. And observe that there are in him not only manners of style, but also manners of mind. All of them, in him, consist in evasion.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3768
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.