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 51 of 3781
ANNÉES 1779-1783 · Entry 51
French
p. 101IV
— Et l’air où toutes les semences sont contenues, et la terre cette matrice universelle, et l’eau qui donne aux germes l’accroissement, et le feu principe essentiel de toute force générative.
— Ces gens là ne sont point des hommes et des femmes ; ce sont des mâles et des femelles.
— D. me disoit un jour : « Je voudrais qu’on donât au peuple tous les jours un bon diné, un bon soupé, un bon habit ; un bon lit toutes les nuits, et tous les matins des coups de bâton. »
— Il y a une certaine pudeur à garder dans la misère ; elle a pour principe cette répugnance louable et naturelle à tous les hommes bien nés d’exposer aux ïeux d’autrui des objets dégoûtans et désagréables.
Il faut bien se garder de porter atteinte à cet honête sentiment soit dans les autres, soit dans soi-même.
Il est des hommes dont les bienfaits violent l’infortune, si l’on peut ainsi parler ; il en est d’autres dont les plaintes ou la contenance prostituent en quelque sorte leur malheur à tous les passans.
Il faut que le pauvre ait la modestie des jeunes vierges qui ne parlent de leur sexe et de leurs infirmités qu’avec retenue, en secret, et par nécessité.
Une misère dévergondée indique toujours une âme commune.
Jeunes gens, parlés entre vous de vos embarras, comme les jeunes filles parlent entre elles de leurs mois, c’est à dire en riant, en folâtrant.
— Les hommes sont des enfants. Il faut tout leur pardonner, excepté la malice.
— Le peuple est vil ?... C’est qu’il est peuple. Plaignés le donc d’être peuple et désirés un autre état de choses où il ne se trouve ni grands ni petits.
— C’est un tact excellent que celui de ridicule. Par lui, on scait qu’on doit éviter une multitude de choses qui nuiroient aux plaisirs communs.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: ANNÉES 1779-1783
p. 102No individual date printed
IV
— And the air, in which all seeds are contained, and the earth, that universal womb, and water, which gives growth to the germs, and fire, the essential principle of every generative force.
— Those people are not men and women; they are males and females.
— D. said to me one day: “I would like the people to be given a good dinner, a good supper, a good coat every day; a good bed every night, and blows with a stick every morning.”
— There is a certain modesty to be kept in misery; its principle is that praiseworthy repugnance, natural to all well-born men, to exposing disgusting and disagreeable objects to the eyes of others.
We must take great care not to injure this decent feeling, either in others or in ourselves.
There are men whose benefactions violate misfortune, if one may put it so; there are others whose complaints or demeanor in a sense prostitute their unhappiness to every passerby.
The poor man must have the modesty of young virgins, who speak of their sex and their infirmities only with restraint, in secret, and from necessity.
A shameless misery always betrays a common soul.
Young men, speak among yourselves of your difficulties as young girls speak among themselves of their monthly courses: that is, laughing and frolicking.
— Men are children. We must forgive them everything except malice.
— The people are base?... It is because they are the people. Pity them, then, for being the people, and desire another state of things in which there are neither great nor small.
— The sense of the ridiculous is an excellent instinct. Through it we know that we must avoid a multitude of things that would harm our shared pleasures.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · ANNÉES 1779-1783 · Entry 51
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.