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 1013 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1013
French
p. 202519 juin.
La vérité. Ils la font consister à ne rien dire qu’ils ne puissent prouver. Le plus grand bonheur qu’ils y trouvent est d’être en pouvoir d’avancer des assertions incontestables. Ils l’aiment et la considèrent comme une prééminence, une prérogative, un pouvoir, une dignité, etc. un affranchissement d’erreur.
La vérité n’est pas cela. La vérité consiste à avoir, sur quoi que ce soit, une opinion semblable à la pensée de Dieu même. Le bonheur qu’elle nous procure est d’être semblables en ce point à Dieu lui-même. Elle nous donne du plaisir par la clarté douce et diffuse dont elle pénètre intimement toutes nos facultés. Au sentiment de la clarté qu’elle nous donne se joint celui d’une chaleur dont toute l’âme est secrètement et délicieusement et paisiblement remuée. C’est là son caractère. La certitude même ne l’a point.
Nota. Si la vérité consiste à avoir de quoi que ce soit une opinion semblable à la pensée de Dieu même (c’est-à-dire à la pensée que Dieu lui-même a de cette chose), il s’ensuit... etc.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2026June 19.
Truth. They make it consist in saying nothing they cannot prove. The greatest happiness they find in it is being able to advance indisputable assertions. They love and regard it as a preeminence, a prerogative, a power, a dignity, etc., a freedom from error.
Truth is not that. Truth consists in having, about anything whatever, an opinion like the thought of God himself. The happiness it brings us is to be like God himself in this respect. It gives us pleasure through the gentle and diffused clarity with which it intimately penetrates all our faculties. To the feeling of clarity it gives us is joined that of a warmth by which the whole soul is secretly and delightfully and peacefully stirred. That is its character. Certainty itself does not have it.
Note. If truth consists in having about anything whatever an opinion like the thought of God himself (that is, the thought God himself has of that thing), it follows... etc.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1013
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.