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 1837 of 3781
[On movement.] · Entry 1837
French
p. 367319 juillet. (Avant le lever du soleil.)
L’utilité, n’est-ce pas le fruit, le bien, le plaisir que l’on retire de l’usage? Tout usage suppose deux réalités : celle de la chose qui sert et de la chose qui s’en sert. On conviendra du moins qu’un usage constant et lié avec les besoins journaliers de notre vie suppose dans la chose dont on use une réalité aussi parfaite que celle de notre vie même. Donc toute utilité dans les opinions suppose quelque vérité, c’est-à-dire quelque réalité dans l’existence de ce qu’on croit. C’est ainsi que l’utilité est un signe de vérité.
Les chimères des songes même ont autant de réalité que la vie ou la veille que nous avons alors car elle aussi est chimérique.
On dira que je parle avec subtilité. C’est quelquefois le seul moyen de pénétration que l’esprit ait en son pouvoir par la nature même de la vérité où il veut atteindre ou par la nature soit des opinions soit des ignorances au travers desquelles il est réduit à se faire jour et à s’ouvrir péniblement une issue ou une avenue.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On movement.]
p. 3674July 19. (Before sunrise.)
Utility: is it not the fruit, the good, the pleasure one draws from use? Every use presupposes two realities: that of the thing that serves and of the thing that makes use of it. One will agree, at least, that a constant use bound up with the daily needs of our life presupposes in the thing used a reality as perfect as that of our life itself. Thus every utility in opinions presupposes some truth, that is, some reality in the existence of what we believe. This is how utility is a sign of truth.
Even the chimeras of dreams have as much reality as the life or waking state we have then, for it too is chimerical.
They will say I speak with subtlety. It is sometimes the mind’s only means of penetration, owing to the very nature of the truth it wishes to reach, or to the nature of either the opinions or the ignorances through which it is reduced to making its way and painfully opening an exit or an avenue.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On movement.] · Entry 1837
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.