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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Facing Pages · Branch 1535 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1535
French
p. 306918 janvier.
Scavoir si aucun homme (et peut-être aucun animal) ne meurt, que la somme des biens n’ait égalé pour lui la somme des maux, comme aucune année ne s’écoule pour aucun point de ce globe, que la lumière, et l’ombre ne lui aient été distribuées en nombre égal, par une répartition plus ou moins régulière et plus ou moins marquée, mais toujours la même en résultat. Le peut-on scavoir? On ne le peut, mais seulement etc. (Ainsi ceux qui vivent dans les neiges du pôle et ceux qui habitent sous l’équateur ont eu les uns et les autres six mois de jour et six mois de nuit au bout de l’an.)
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3070January 18.
To know whether no man (and perhaps no animal) dies without the sum of good things for him having equaled the sum of bad things, just as no year passes for any point on this globe without light and shadow having been distributed to it in equal number, in an allotment more or less regular and more or less marked, but always the same in its result. Can one know this? One cannot, but only etc. (Thus those who live in the snows of the pole and those who dwell under the equator have both had six months of day and six months of night by the year’s end.)
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1535
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.