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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Facing Pages · Branch 1051 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1051
French
p. 210131 août.
Du repentir. — Du repentir qui change l’âme et de celui qui ne la change pas. Comment le repentir moral ne tombe que sur quelque action. Comment l’autre anéantit l’individu. Par celui-là on n’est plus un tel ou un tel. On n’est qu’un homme qui renonce à tout ce qui a particularisé sa nature et l’a rendue capable de tels et tels mouvemens qu’on déteste.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2102August 31.
Of repentance. — Of the repentance that changes the soul and the repentance that does not change it. How moral repentance bears only on some action. How the other annihilates the individual. Through that one, one is no longer this or that person. One is only a man who renounces everything that has made his nature particular and capable of such and such movements that one detests.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1051
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.