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 156 of 3781
YEAR 1788. · Entry 156
French
p. 311« La vertu tient de la terre », dit Plutarque. La sagesse est toute céleste.
Elle est médiocrité (dit encore Plutarque), ôtant d’un côté à ce qui est excessif et de l’autre ajoutant à ce qui est défectueux.
La plupart des traités de Plutarque étoient faits pour être lus dans les auditoires, les philosophes étant alors lecteurs de leurs propres [ouvrages].
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1788.
p. 312“Virtue partakes of the earth,” says Plutarch. Wisdom is wholly celestial.
It is the mean (Plutarch says again), taking away on one side from what is excessive and adding on the other to what is deficient.
Most of Plutarch’s treatises were written to be read in lecture halls, philosophers then reading their own [works] aloud.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1788. · Entry 156
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.