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 1813 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1813
French
p. 362514 juillet.
Les deux philosophies. Toutes les deux sont bonnes, toutes les deux utiles et toutes les deux nécessaires. Il faut étudier la matière avec les sens et les expériences. Il faut étudier l’esprit avec la vue interne et avec l’expérience de soi. Le raisonnement, l’imagination, la patience et l’enthousiasme, la réflexion et le sentiment sont des instrumens dont l’usage est également indispensable dans nos recherches; l’âme n’a pas trop de son tact, de sa sagacité, de son goût, de sa mémoire, de ses ailes et de ses pieds pour atteindre à la vérité.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3626July 14.
The two philosophies. Both are good, both useful, and both necessary. Matter must be studied with the senses and experiments. Spirit must be studied with inward sight and the experience of oneself. Reasoning, imagination, patience and enthusiasm, reflection and feeling are instruments equally indispensable to our inquiries; the soul needs all its tact, its sagacity, its taste, its memory, its wings and its feet to reach truth.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1813
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.