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 890 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 890
French
p. 1779Il y a une foule de mots usuëls qui n’ont qu’un demi-sens (et sont comme les demi-sons). Ils ne sont bons qu’à circuler dans le parlage comme les liards dans le commerce. On ne doit pas les étaler en les enchassant dans des phrases quand on pérore ou qu’on écrit. On doit bien se garder surtout de les faire entrer dans des vers. On commettroit la même faute que fairoit un compositeur s’il admettoit dans sa musique des sons qui ne sont pas (des tons, des tons qui ne sont pas) des notes. — Les vers sont en effet la musique de l’âme.
Un ouvrage (doit être un être et non une chose arbitraire, il) doit avoir ses proportions, son caractère et sa nature; une fin, un commencement, un milieu et des accessoires, un tronc, des membres, une stature, bref une personnalité.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1780There are a host of common words that have only half a meaning (and are like half sounds). They are good only for circulating in chatter, like liards in trade. One must not display them by setting them into sentences when one declaims or writes. Above all, one must take care not to introduce them into verse. One would commit the same fault as a composer who admitted into his music sounds that are not (tones, tones that are not) notes.—Verse is indeed the music of the soul.
A work (must be a being and not an arbitrary thing; it) must have its proportions, its character, and its nature; an end, a beginning, a middle and accessories, a trunk, limbs, a stature—in brief, a personality.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 890
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.