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 1592 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1592
French
p. 318318 février.
... du monde entier. — ne paroît aux yeux de — qu’un arc en ciel.
La matière la plus dure et que nous trouvons la plus rembrunie brille pour eux, non pas seulement de sept couleurs, mais d’un million. C’est pour eux que tous les jets et tous les jeux de la lumière se déployent. Un diamant perdu dans un gazon n’est qu’une pierre pour la chenille qui rampe dessus, mais pour nous c’est une source d’éclatantes scintillations. C’est un astre. C’est une étoile.
C’est ainsi que la terre, par exemple... Nous sommes... Les esprits sont...
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3184February 18.
... of the whole world. — appears to the eyes of — only a rainbow.
The hardest matter, which we find the darkest, shines for them not merely with seven colors, but with a million. It is for them that all the jets and all the play of light unfold. A diamond lost in a lawn is only a stone to the caterpillar crawling over it, but to us it is a source of brilliant scintillations. It is a heavenly body. It is a star.
So it is that the earth, for example... We are... Spirits are...
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1592
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.