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 1594 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1594
French
p. 3187Si l’éclat nous séduit, la régularité aussi nous trompe. C’est ce qui arrive dans le raisonnement où la disposition des parties fait souvent toute la force à laquelle nous cédons malgré nous même. L’imagination est la folle de la maison, mais l’esprit en est le docteur. On le duppe avec le moindre appareil scientifique pourvu que cela le confirme dans ce qu’il scait ou dans ce qu’il veut scavoir.
Il y a de plus la Dame du lieu, qui est la raison.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3188If brilliance seduces us, regularity deceives us too. This happens in reasoning, where the arrangement of the parts often makes up all the force to which we yield despite ourselves. Imagination is the madwoman of the house, but the mind is its doctor. It can be duped by the slightest scientific apparatus, provided this confirms it in what it knows or what it wishes to know.
There is also the Lady of the place, who is reason.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1594
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.