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 1336 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1336
French
p. 26714 mai.
Scavoir à combien de millions de lieues de la terre est placé le soleil. Est un nombre fort inutile à scavoir, car cela ne sert absolument de rien. Mais scavoir qu’on a pu mesurer cette distance et comment on l’a mesurée n’est pas inutile. Le fait n’est rien, mais la découverte en est belle. Je veux dire que l’industrie qui y a servi mérite d’être estimée et peut s’appliquer avec utilité à d’autres mesurages plus profitables.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 2672May 4.
To know how many millions of leagues from the earth the sun is placed. Is a most useless number to know, for it serves absolutely no purpose. But to know that this distance could be measured, and how it was measured, is not useless. The fact is nothing, but its discovery is beautiful. I mean that the ingenuity used to make it deserves esteem and can be usefully applied to other, more profitable measurements.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1336
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.