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 1669 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1669
French
p. 3337Voltaire parle beaucoup de l’orgueil théologique et de ses emportemens. Mais le sien? L’ambition de dominer par ses opinions politiques, philosophiques ou théologiques porte aux mêmes excès et aux mêmes fureurs les hommes ardens. Cette ambition est la plus cruelle lorsqu’elle est extrême parce (qu’elle ne peut subjuguer que par la mort) que ceux qu’elle ne peut persuader lui résistent et lui sont contraires tant qu’ils peuvent penser, c’est-à-dire qu’ils vivent.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3338Voltaire speaks much of theological pride and its outbursts. But what of his own? The ambition to dominate through one’s political, philosophical, or theological opinions drives ardent men to the same excesses and the same furies. This ambition is the cruelest when it is extreme, because (it can subjugate only through death) those whom it cannot persuade resist it and oppose it as long as they can think, that is, as long as they live.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1669
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.