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.
English Page · Branch 2718 of 3781
YEAR 1803 · Entry 2718
French
p. 543524 janvier.
C’est du satyrion. Ce sont des philtres malaprêtés. Mauvais contes d’amour : je n’aime pas les vins qui ennivrent. C’est l’arek des sauvages, liqueur qu’ils composent en mâchant une plante et en jettant leurs remâchures dans un bassin.
... font monter l’amour à la tête.
... grandes passions, grands coups d’épée.
Avec la fièvre des sens, le délire du cœur et la faiblesse de l’esprit, avec les orages du temps et les grands fléaux de la vie, la fièvre, la faim, la soif, les maladies et la mort, on faira tant qu’on voudra des romans qui fairont pleurer. Oui, cela fait pleurer; mais l’âme dit : « Vous me faites mal. »
Ajoutez-y les nauffrages, les suicides, les prisons et les échaffauds.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1803
p. 5436January 24.
It is satyrion. These are ill-prepared love potions. Bad tales of love: I do not like wines that intoxicate. It is the savages’ arek, a liquor they make by chewing a plant and throwing their chewed remnants into a basin.
...make love go to the head.
...great passions, great sword strokes.
With the fever of the senses, the delirium of the heart, and the weakness of the mind, with the storms of the times and the great scourges of life, fever, hunger, thirst, diseases, and death, one will make as many novels as one wishes that will make people weep. Yes, that makes one weep; but the soul says: “You hurt me.”
Add to them shipwrecks, suicides, prisons, and scaffolds.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1803 · Entry 2718
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.