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 1134 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1134
French
p. 226722 novembre.
Celles dont les défauts sont une indigence naturelle excitent puissamment l’amour, qui est une espèce de secours. « Il est fils de la pauvreté », disoit Platon. Je n’ai jamais compris ce qu’il vouloit dire. Mais certainement il a dit un mot très vrai et très beau en plus d’un sens. L’amour n’est grand, il n’est extrême, que lorsqu’il est réellement une espèce d’assistance et de générosité.
Amour. Platon vouloit dire probablement qu’il étoit fils de notre propre pauvreté et de cette indigence de notre nature qui ne permet à personne de trouver son assés (ce qu’il aime) en soi.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2268November 22.
Women whose defects are a natural indigence powerfully awaken love, which is a kind of help. “He is the son of poverty,” Plato said. I have never understood what he meant. But certainly he said something very true and very beautiful in more than one sense. Love is great, it is extreme, only when it is really a kind of assistance and generosity.
Love. Plato probably meant that he was the son of our own poverty and of that indigence of our nature which allows no one to find his enough (what he loves) in himself.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1134
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.