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 2756 of 3781
YEAR 1803 · Entry 2756
French
p. 5511L’esprit pur a sa prose aussi bien que sa poésie et je dirois volontiers : la prose d’Aristote et la poésie de Platon.
« Les ailes de la métaphysique », comme dit Fénelon. Nous en avons fait une science à quatre pieds. Quadrupedante putrem quatit ungula campum. (Virg.) Son style cependant devroit ressembler à celui que Fénelon attribuoit à Pellisson qu’il remplaçoit à l’Accadémie, lorsqu’il disoit de lui : « Son style noble et léger ressembloit à la démarche des divinités fabuleuses qui couloient dans les airs sans poser le pied sur la terre. »
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1803
p. 5512Pure mind has its prose as well as its poetry, and I would willingly say: the prose of Aristotle and the poetry of Plato.
“The wings of metaphysics,” as Fénelon says. We have made it a science on four feet. Quadrupedante putrem quatit ungula campum. (Virg.) Its style, however, ought to resemble that which Fénelon attributed to Pellisson, whom he was replacing at the Academy, when he said of him: “His noble and light style resembled the gait of the gods of fable, who flowed through the air without setting foot on the earth.”
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1803 · Entry 2756
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.