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 1245 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1245
French
p. 2489Ne dites-vous pas que la force de gravitation porte les corps de haut en bas? — Oui. — Et que les corps pesans tombent en traçant une ligne droite? — Il est vrai. — Eh bien, imaginez une autre force, soit simple soit composée, qui porte les corps à tourner et à tracer en tournant la figure d’un œuf ou d’un O. Supposez cette force inhérente et naturelle à un corps en sorte qu’elle en soit inséparable. — Nous imaginons tout cela. — Vous imaginez en ce cas ce qui fait que les astres roulent d’un cours éternel et rapide, pour parler comme vos poètes. Une pierre qui tombe et un soleil qui roule n’offrent rien de plus étrange et de plus [ ] à l’esprit, l’un que l’autre. L’astre et la pierre ne sont que mus, l’un par un mouvement qui approche le mobile du centre, et l’autre par un mouvement qui tend sans cesse à le tenir également rapproché et également éloigné du même point. Il y a dans la nature une force de tournoyement comme il y en a une de pesanteur. (Ou plutôt la pesanteur et la légèreté...)
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 2490Do you not say that the force of gravitation carries bodies from high to low? — Yes. — And that heavy bodies fall tracing a straight line? — It is true. — Well then, imagine another force, whether simple or compound, that carries bodies into a turn and makes them trace, as they turn, the figure of an egg or an O. Suppose this force inherent and natural to a body, so that it is inseparable from it. — We imagine all that. — In that case you imagine what makes the heavenly bodies roll on an eternal and rapid course, to speak like your poets. A falling stone and a rolling sun present nothing stranger or more [ ] to the mind, one than the other. The heavenly body and the stone are merely moved, one by a motion that brings the moving body nearer the center, and the other by a motion that continually tends to keep it equally near to and equally far from the same point. There is a force of whirling in nature just as there is a force of heaviness. (Or rather, heaviness and lightness...)
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1245
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.