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 2733 of 3781
YEAR 1803 · Entry 2733
French
p. 5465Du langage inouï, — et propre à tromper ceux qui le parlent, aussi bien que ceux qui l’entendent. — Ils payent notre esprit de chiffres. Leur doctrine est en assignats. En effet, ils nous donnent à prendre la vérité sur un fonds qui n’existe pas. On appella les billets de Law des papiers de systhème. Ces livres à systhèmes sérieux ne sont que du papier de banque.
Ceux de M. de S[aint] P[ierre] sont peut être de cette espèce, mais ils valent par les images. Le style leur donne du prix. Ils sont semblables à ces papiers où se trouve une belle estampe, un beau dessin, un beau crayon. On les garde et on les regarde. Ils seront toujours importans.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1803
p. 5466Of unheard-of language—and suited to deceiving those who speak it as well as those who hear it.—They pay our mind with figures. Their doctrine is in assignats. Indeed, they give us a claim to draw truth from a fund that does not exist. Law’s notes were called system papers. These books with serious systems are only bank paper.
Those of Mr. de S[aint] P[ierre] may be of this kind, but they are worth something for their images. Style gives them value. They are like those papers on which there is a beautiful print, a beautiful drawing, a beautiful sketch. We keep them and we look at them. They will always matter.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1803 · Entry 2733
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.