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 121 of 3781
YEAR 1787 · Entry 121
French
p. 24115 février 1787.
[A propos d’Améric Vespuce.]
On voit aussi qu’il n’envisageoit pour grand avantage dans ses entreprises que l’occasion de devenir et de se montrer scavant et dans ses relations il veut toujours paroître imbu des bonnes lettres. Il les écrit plutôt en homme à qui sa mémoire rapelle de belles descriptions qu’en homme à qui son imagination représente de beaux objets. Aucun grand principe de morale ne le dirigea jamais, il avoit seulement de l’élévation dans l’esprit et de la hardiesse. Il trouvoit beau de se régler sur la mer et dans des pays nouveaux par les règles de l’astronomie, science alors peu connue et peu avancée. Il croyoit glorieux de donner à des souverains de nouveaux empires. Tel étoit le double rôle qu’il ambitionna et qui l’honoroit à ses yeux.
Nota. Dans le précis de sa vie, soit par la faute de ses relations soit par l’ignorance de son historien, les lieux qu’il découvrit ne sont ni nommés, ni déterminés par leur exacte position, à un ou deux près. Il mourut en 1516.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1787
p. 242February 15, 1787.
[Concerning Amerigo Vespucci.]
One sees, too, that he looked for no great advantage in his undertakings beyond the opportunity to become and show himself learned, and in his accounts he always wishes to appear imbued with literary learning. He writes them more as a man whose memory recalls beautiful descriptions than as a man whose imagination presents beautiful objects. No great principle of morality ever guided him; he had only elevation of mind and boldness. He found it beautiful to guide himself at sea and in new countries by the rules of astronomy, a science then little known and little advanced. He thought it glorious to give sovereigns new empires. Such was the double role he aspired to, and which honored him in his own eyes.
Note. In the outline of his life, whether through the fault of his accounts or through his historian’s ignorance, the places he discovered are neither named nor determined by their exact position, with one or two exceptions. He died in 1516.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1787 · Entry 121
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.