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 2142 of 3781
[SAVIGNY NOTEBOOK] · Entry 2142
French
p. 4283Et d’abord il créa le lieu (ou la capacité de contenir ce qu’il alloit produire ensuite). Il créa le ciel et la terre, a dit Moïse. — Ensuite il l’éclaira, affin que l’on pût s’y mouvoir. — Il pourvut aux arrosemens en séparant les eaux des eaux, les eaux fixes des eaux volages, et les légères des pesantes. — Il l’emblava, il la planta et la tapissa. — Ce n’est pas tout. Il empoissonna l’eau pisante, il peupla l’air comme un colombier et il fit de la terre un parc qu’il remplit de bêtes vivantes. Et quand il eut créé, arrangé, orné, approvisionné et achevé le lieu, il y plaça l’homme, car le lieu attendoit son maître. Enfin, comme un sage etc. il maria le chef de la maison et, lui ayant donné une aide pour supporter les soins et les peines inséparables de la vie, il le livra à ses destins, à ses devoirs, à ses travaux. Le mal vint de nos appétits, c’est à dire de la matière. Il se fit par la liberté.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [SAVIGNY NOTEBOOK]
p. 4284And first he created the place (or the capacity to contain what he was going to produce afterward). He created heaven and earth, Moses said. — Then he lit it, so that one could move about in it. — He provided for watering by separating the waters from the waters, the fixed waters from the wandering waters, and the light from the heavy. — He sowed it with grain, he planted it and carpeted it. — That is not all. He stocked the clayey water with fish, he populated the air like a dovecote, and made the earth a park that he filled with living beasts. And when he had created, arranged, adorned, provisioned, and completed the place, he put man in it, for the place awaited its master. Finally, like a sage etc., he arranged a marriage for the head of the household, and having given him a helper to bear the cares and pains inseparable from life, he delivered him to his destinies, his duties, his labors. Evil came from our appetites, that is, from matter. It came about through freedom.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [SAVIGNY NOTEBOOK] · Entry 2142
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.