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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French Page · Branch 2447 of 3781
[LOCKE] · Entry 2447
French
p. 4893[…]5 mars.
Je persiste. Le mot et l’idée société sont pour lui ce qu’étoient pour les Révolutionnaires les mots peuple, nation, patrie, etc. Et le mot constitution aussi, c’est à dire un demi fantôme auquel il sacrifie tout. Mais il s’agit chez lui de la constitution passée et chez les autres de la constitution à venir.
* Lui demander : Et quand il n’y a ni constitution politique ni constitution religieuse, à quoi faut-il se conformer?
* Quelquefois il vante la force comme un vrai matérialiste. Il en fait une partie intégrale de la perfection humaine. Que n’y joint-il donc la beauté, plus forte encore que la force?
* Il y a là plus de volonté que de lumière; et ce que l’on croit force d’esprit n’est souvent qu’une force de détermination. C’est cette dernière surtout qui fait les esprits systématiques, en ce sens qu’ils sont invariables, immuables, et je dirois presque incurables dans leur attachement aux systhèmes qu’ils ont une fois adoptés. Source de maux.
Pag. 194. « L’habitude d’un travail sans activité ». Observons que certains travaux nécessaires et trop durs peuvent la donner. Tels sont ceux de la vigne à Villeneuve, où les intrumens lourds du vigneron, le terrein pierreux des vignobles, le portage à dos des fumiers par des chemins montans, de lourds fardeaux sur les épaules de l’enfance et du sexe faible rendent la lenteur inévitable dans toutes les opérations de cette espèce de culture, si on excepte la vendange.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [LOCKE]
p. 4894March […]5.
I persist. The word and idea society are to him what the words people, nation, fatherland, etc., were to the Revolutionaries. And the word constitution too, that is, a half-phantom to which he sacrifices everything. But with him it is the past constitution that is in question, and with the others the constitution to come.
* To ask him: And when there is neither a political constitution nor a religious constitution, to what must one conform?
* Sometimes he extols strength like a true materialist. He makes it an integral part of human perfection. Why then does he not add beauty to it, stronger still than strength?
* There is more will than light here; and what is taken for strength of mind is often only a force of determination. It is above all the latter that makes systematic minds, in the sense that they are invariable, immutable, and I would almost say incurable in their attachment to the systems they have once adopted. A source of evils.
Page 194. “The habit of labor without activity.” Let us observe that certain necessary and excessively hard labors can give it. Such are those of the vine at Villeneuve, where the vine grower’s heavy tools, the stony ground of the vineyards, the carrying of manure on the back along uphill paths, heavy burdens on the shoulders of childhood and the weaker sex, make slowness inevitable in all the operations of this kind of cultivation, except the grape harvest.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [LOCKE] · Entry 2447
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.