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 1096 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1096
French
p. 2191Demander [la] raison des natures ou le pourquoi des existences est une inutilité dont les enfans seuls sont capables. Là s’élève une borne, il la faut respecter. Les esprits inquiets, chagrins, disputeurs, querelleurs, argutieux, imitent à cet égard les enfans. Ils sont questionneurs par babil et par amour pour la dispute. Le curieux vraiment curieux est sage. Ami sincère de la vérité, il n’aime qu’elle, et quand il scait d’une obscurité qu’elle est vraiment impénétrable, il n’y cherche point la lumière. Il ne s’arrête point à l’entour. Il ne veut point y pénétrer ny y faire pénétrer les autres. Il ménage leur esprit et le sien. Il se détourne et vole ailleurs.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2192To ask [the] reason for natures, or the why of existences, is a uselessness of which only children are capable. There a boundary rises; it must be respected. Restless, morose, disputatious, quarrelsome, quibbling minds imitate children in this regard. They are questioners out of prattle and a love of dispute. The curious man who is truly curious is wise. A sincere friend of truth, he loves only her; and when he knows an obscurity to be truly impenetrable, he does not seek light in it. He does not linger around it. He does not wish to enter it or make others enter it. He spares their minds and his own. He turns away and flies elsewhere.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1096
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.