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 2030 of 3781
TRAVEL · Entry 2030
French
p. 40594 novembre.
Analyser, décomposer. — Ce qu’ils appellent analyse avec tant d’emphase est ce qu’on appelloit division quand on parloit avec simplicité.
Il faut analyser son sujet avec soi-même, c’est à dire qu’il faut le considérer sous toutes ses faces et l’examiner par parties, le tourner et le retourner; mais il ne faut pas analyser sa pensée avec son lecteur. Il faut tout dire en un mot et tout d’un coup après avoir tout examiné longuement et à plusieurs reprises. L’écrivain doit se rendre semblable au peintre. Le peintre considère son modèle trait par trait, mais c’est l’ensemble qu’il en montre. Ce n’est pas rayon par rayon, mais par faisceaux, que la lumière nous éclaire.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: TRAVEL
p. 4060November 4.
To analyze, to decompose. — What they call analysis with such grandiloquence is what was called division when people spoke simply.
One must analyze one’s subject with oneself, that is, consider all its faces and examine it in parts, turn it and turn it again; but one must not analyze one’s thought with one’s reader. One must say everything in a word and all at once after examining everything at length and repeatedly. The writer must make himself like the painter. The painter considers his model feature by feature, but it is the whole that he shows. Light illuminates us not ray by ray, but in beams.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · TRAVEL · Entry 2030
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.