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 1641 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1641
French
p. 3281Mercredi 12 mars.
Il n’a fallu qu’un grain de matière pour créer le monde. Mais il faloit un monde entier pour créer une âme. C’est un ouvrage qui ne se fait pas avec peu.
Il faut d’abord une enveloppe de matière céleste, affin de la configurer. Il faut placer cette enveloppe dans mille autres et ces mille autres dans un corps. Il faut environner d’air ce corps, remplir cet air d’exhalaison par le moyen de l’eau, l’en vuider s’il en est trop plein par le moyen du feu, donner à l’homme un piédestal. Il faut la terre, il faut la mer, il faut les astres, il faut le monde. Je l’ai dit : « le monde est un lieu. »
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3282Wednesday, March 12.
It took only a grain of matter to create the world. But it took an entire world to create a soul. This is a work that cannot be made with little.
First there must be an envelope of celestial matter to give it form. This envelope must be placed in a thousand others, and these thousand others in a body. This body must be surrounded with air, this air filled with exhalation by means of water, emptied of it by means of fire if it is too full, man given a pedestal. There must be the earth, there must be the sea, there must be the stars, there must be the world. I have said it: “the world is a place.”
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1641
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.