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 1065 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1065
French
p. 212912 septembre.
Siècle où le corps est devenu subtil, l’esprit est devenu grossier.
On ne remplit l’un que de sucs, d’eaux chaudes, de vapeurs, de légèretés. On n’occupe l’autre que de matière, que d’animaux, de minéraux, de configurations et de pesanteurs. Aussi les corps, ne recevant qu’une nourriture trop déliée et les esprits ne s’occupant que d’objets trop réels et trop durs, se sont également dépravés.
Ils ont l’esprit terrestre avec des corps aériens.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2130September 12.
An age when the body has become subtle, the mind has become coarse.
One fills the former only with juices, hot waters, vapors, light things. One occupies the latter only with matter, animals, minerals, configurations, and weights. Thus bodies, receiving only nourishment that is too fine, and minds, concerning themselves only with objects that are too real and too hard, have become equally corrupted.
They have earthly minds with airy bodies.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1065
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.