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 2682 of 3781
YEAR 1803 · Entry 2682
French
p. 53634 janvier.
Rien ne coûte tant aux enfans que la réflexion. C’est que la dernière et essentielle destination de l’âme est de voir, de connoître et non de réfléchir. Réfléchir est un des travaux de la vie, un moyen d’arriver, un chemin, un passage, et non pas un centre. Tout tend sans cesse à sa dernière destination. Connoître et être connu, voilà les deux points de repos. Tel sera le bonheur des âmes.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1803
p. 5364January 4.
Nothing costs children so much as reflection. It is because the soul’s ultimate and essential destination is to see, to know, and not to reflect. Reflecting is one of life’s labors, a means of arriving, a path, a passage, and not a center. Everything tends ceaselessly toward its ultimate destination. To know and to be known: those are the two resting points. Such will be the happiness of souls.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1803 · Entry 2682
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.