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 60 of 3781
YEAR 1784 · Entry 60
French
p. 119En janvier 1784.
Les femmes aiment les aventures, les rencontres, les hazards, parce qu’elles aiment à se donner et non pas qu’on les donne. Pour ce sexe, faire un doux usage de son corps, c’est en disposer librement. Quand une fois elles ont fait cet acte de liberté, il ne tient qu’aux hommes qu’elles soient constantes. Hors de là, elles ne le sont par le cœur que dans un seul cas, celui où elles ont été prises par force ; j’entends par la force physique et non par la force sociale.
Cette violence leur fait espérer un grand empire sur l’homme qu’elles ont dominé au point de le mettre hors de lui-même ; comme elle espèrent une grande condescendance de l’homme à qui elles ont tout sacrifié.
Nota. Il faut que cette violence soit celle de l’homme amoureux et non celle de l’homme brutal.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1784
p. 120In January 1784.
Women love adventures, encounters, chances, because they love to give themselves and not to be given. For this sex, to make sweet use of one’s body is to dispose of it freely. Once they have performed this act of freedom, it depends only on men whether they remain constant. Apart from this, they are constant at heart in only one case: when they have been taken by force; I mean physical force and not social force.
This violence makes them hope for great power over the man they have mastered to the point of driving him beyond himself; just as they hope for great forbearance from the man to whom they have sacrificed everything.
Note. This violence must be that of the man in love, and not that of the brutal man.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1784 · Entry 60
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.