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 1247 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1247
French
p. 249322 février.
Il faut que l’esprit séjourne dans une lecture pour bien connaître un auteur.
Traitez, en écrivant, les hommes comme des enfans, car ils ne sont en effet que de grands enfans paresseux, légers, inappliqués, n’aimant que le plaisir. Ecrire donc avec agrément, avec clarté, avec éclat, avec adresse et avec force, affin d’imprimer si bien toutes choses dans les esprits qu’ils ne puissent plus... En écrivant il faut songer que les lettrés sont là, mais ce n’est pas à eux qu’il faut parler.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 2494February 22.
The mind must dwell in a reading to know an author well.
When writing, treat men as children, for they are indeed only big children, lazy, flighty, inattentive, loving only pleasure. To write, then, with charm, with clarity, with brilliance, with skill, and with force, so as to imprint all things so well in their minds that they can no longer... When writing, one must remember that the learned are there, but it is not to them that one must speak.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1247
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.