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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French Page · Branch 1154 of 3781
YEAR 1798 · Entry 1154
French
p. 2307Corps animés gravitans vers la terre. Le mouvement les en sépare et le repos les y rejoint.
Volonté. Principe de mouvement. Si la pensée du mouvement précède, il y a choix élection. Par la volonté, il se fait d’abord concentration de forces. C’est la main qui bande l’arc. L’explosion suit. Tout mouvement est explosion. Il y a dans tous, détente de la corde, jet et sifflement de la corde, but bien ou mal frappé. Il y a volonté dans tous les animaux, parce qu’il y a mouvement dans tous. Tous n’ont pas la pensée parce qu’ils n’en ont pas besoin. L’élection n’est indispensable que pour la moralité, et l’instinct peut suppléer en tout à la pensée, excepté dans l’usage de ce qui est esprit.
Poids, grandeurs, masses, etc. Paschal lui-même s’y est trompé.
Tout principe de mouvement est feu. Dans tout mouvement il y a roulement, rotation interne ou externe.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1798
p. 2308Animate bodies gravitating toward the earth. Movement separates them from it, and rest joins them to it again.
Will. Principle of movement. If the thought of movement precedes, there is choice, election. Through will there first occurs a concentration of forces. It is the hand that draws the bow. The explosion follows. Every movement is an explosion. In all there is a release of the string, a cast and whistle of the string, a target well or poorly struck. There is will in all animals, because there is movement in all. Not all have thought, because they have no need of it. Election is indispensable only for morality, and instinct can supply the place of thought in everything except the use of what is mind.
Weights, magnitudes, masses, etc. Paschal himself was mistaken about them.
Every principle of movement is fire. In every movement there is rolling, internal or external rotation.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1798 · Entry 1154
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.