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 1511 of 3781
YEAR 1799 · Entry 1511
French
p. 3021...Cette forme d’explications une fois admise, il ne tiendroit qu’à l’auteur de prouver que nous ne pouvons rien dire, faire et penser qui ne retrace quelque emblème astronomique. Tout s’ajustera dans l’univers à son sisthème, comme on ajuste à toutes sortes de pensées toutes sortes de mots en en faisant des bouts rimés. — Je veux aller à Paris. — D’où partez-vous? — Du nord. — Alors vous représenteres le soleil allant des signes supérieurs aux inférieurs, Osiris allant à la mort, le passage de la lumière aux ténèbres, etc. Et je trouverai tant qu’il me plaira des applications aux corps célestes dans tous les endroits, dans tous les cabarets que nous trouverons sur la route.
Le ciel est grand. On y place tout ce qu’on veut.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1799
p. 3022...Once this form of explanation is admitted, the author would need only choose to prove that we can say, do, and think nothing that does not trace some astronomical emblem. Everything in the universe will fit his system, just as all sorts of words are fitted to all sorts of thoughts by making bouts-rimés of them. — I want to go to Paris. — Where are you setting out from? — From the north. — Then you will represent the sun passing from the upper signs to the lower, Osiris going to his death, the passage from light to darkness, etc. And I shall find as many applications to the heavenly bodies as I please in every place, in every tavern we find along the way.
The sky is vast. One puts anything one wishes in it.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1799 · Entry 1511
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.