Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
Facing Pages · Branch 1613 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1613
French
p. 32253 mars, lundi. — L’ombre est la manifestation des corps. La lumière a Dieu pour principe. Le S. n’est-il qu’un diamant ou escarboucle? Dieu, quand sa splendeur est réfléchie par quelque corps, on la nomme lumière. Quand elle est réfléchie par l’esprit, elle se nomme intelligence. [...]
12 mars. — Si le corps heurté est trop dur, il ne peut y avoir de compression ni d’intromission; et il n’y a point de génération de mouvement. Nota : La masse moindre, qui cède à l’autre, etc. [...]
17 mars. — Les muscles, s’ils n’étoient pas animés par la vie et par la volonté. — Qu’un fol a plus de volonté qu’un homme sage.
18 mars. — Que, par rapport au mouvement, tout corps mû est un mille-pattes ou mille-anneaux; qu’une portion de ses parties s’applique à quelque point d’appui quand les autres vont en avant, etc. [...]
28 mars. — Add. de mémoire. — Que tout corps va où l’on l’envoye, mais non toujours où l’on voudroit. Que tout corps mû porte un message en quelque sorte. Manière dont il le remplit. Qu’il le transmet ou en rend compte, comme un sourd et comme un muet. Ainsi ce qui est mû semble participer non seulement de ce qui a vie, mais encore de ce qui a intelligence. [...]
4 avril. — Les parties odorantes et les parties colorantes. Différentes (dit Nollet, en parlant des 1ʳᵉˢ) du fluide où elles s’attachent. Que les parties odorantes et colorantes ne peuvent s’attacher à rien de solide que par une première intervention ou médiation de quelque humidité.
26 juillet. — La chaleur (substance) est le feu. Le froid est absence de feu. Les couleurs sont de la lumière et se font comme les sons par un certain jeu de etc.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3226March 3, Monday. — Shadow is the manifestation of bodies. Light has God for its principle. Is the S. only a diamond or carbuncle? God, when his splendor is reflected by some body, it is called light. When it is reflected by the mind, it is called intelligence. [...]
March 12. — If the struck body is too hard, there can be no compression or intromission; and there is no generation of movement. Note: The smaller mass, which yields to the other, etc. [...]
March 17. — Muscles, if they were not animated by life and by will. — That a madman has more will than a wise man.
March 18. — That, with regard to movement, every moved body is a thousand-feet or a thousand-rings; that a portion of its parts presses against some point of support while the others go forward, etc. [...]
March 28. — Add. from memory. — That every body goes where one sends it, but not always where one would wish. That every moved body carries a message, in a way. How it fulfills it. That it transmits it or gives an account of it, like a deaf man and like a mute man. Thus what is moved seems to partake not only of what has life, but also of what has intelligence. [...]
April 4. — The odorous parts and the coloring parts. Different (says Nollet, speaking of the first) from the fluid to which they attach themselves. That the odorous and coloring parts can attach themselves to nothing solid except through an initial intervention or mediation of some moisture.
July 26. — Heat (substance) is fire. Cold is absence of fire. Colors are light and are made, like sounds, by a certain play of etc.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1613
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.