Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
French Page · Branch 2218 of 3781
[ON KANT.] · Entry 2218
French
p. 443514 octobre.
Il n’y a guère d’exflorescences que dans celles des matières brutes qui se forment en masses par l’atraction ou impulsion de leurs particules et dont les molécules diverses sont douées au sein de la terre d’une sorte de force végétative qui les rend en quelque manière participantes de la vie. Tels sont les métaux et parmi les métaux ceux que nous nommons les plus purs comme l’or, le cuivre, le mercure. Il y a en eux une énergie d’où procèdent des émanations qui nous les rendent malfaisans lorsque nous nous en fabriquons des vases où nous prenons nos alimens...
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [ON KANT.]
p. 4436October 14.
Efflorescences occur scarcely anywhere except in those raw materials that form masses through the attraction or impulse of their particles and whose various molecules are endowed, within the earth, with a sort of vegetative force that makes them in some way participants in life. Such are the metals, and among the metals those we call the purest, such as gold, copper, mercury. There is an energy in them from which emanations proceed that make them harmful to us when we fashion them into vessels from which we take our food...
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [ON KANT.] · Entry 2218
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.