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Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2765

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French Page · Branch 2765 of 3781

[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2765

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5529

J’aime les petits faits. Ils occupent en quelque sorte peu de place dans la mémoire qui les retient facilement. Et de plus ils ont toujours quelque trait caractéristique. Ce sont des signes, très bons pour le signalement. Car ils n’ont eu, si j’ose ainsi parler, de l’existence que parce que les mœurs du temps, l’humeur d’un personnage, ses goûts, ses habitudes, ses manies sont un fonds qui les a fait naître, un terrein où l’on les a vus. Les grands événemens naissent des choses et de l’enchaînement des causes. Mais les petits naissent de l’homme. Productions spontanées dont la semence est dans le sol et qui en décèlent la qualité!

S4.Source editor’s annotationCe qui suit provient du feuillet B. — Joignons à ce passage un paragraphe que je trouve sur un feuillet sans date : « Tout n’est pas grave et important dans l’histoire des peuples et souvent on y trouve avec plaisir les minuties qu’on se plaît à y regarder et qui n’y sont pas inutiles, soit parce qu’elles détendent et amusent l’attention, soit parce qu’elles entrent facilement dans l’esprit et, s’attachant à la mémoire, y fixent les faits principaux dont elles sont des dépendances. Quelques détails après les masses introduisent la variété. » (Ces lignes ont aussi quelque analogie avec un passage des Anecdotes, tome Iᵉʳ, page 97.)

S1.Source editor’s annotation« On s’est moqué d’Adrien Baïllet parce qu’il nous apprend que Descartes aimoit le taffetas vert, les plumets, les perruques qu’il se faisoit faire à Paris, et qu’il en avoit jusqu’à quatre, qu’il quitta en Hollande le taffetas pour le drap, que son grand goût étoit pour les omelettes d’œufs couvés de huit ou dix jours. (Vid. art. Baïllet pag. 14 du 2ᵉ vol dictionn. hist, in 8ᵒ tom. 2.) Quelques-uns lui en scavent gré. — Et Voltaire lui même : la fraize du régent, les 2 grands repas de Louis XIV, l’habit bleu à boutons de cuivre doré et les gants de buffle de Charles IX. — Add. les bottes du grand Frédéric, la niche même de fayence où il se plaisoit à coucher, — Add. la Parquédieu de Louis XI, le Ventre St gris d’Henry IV — Accueillir avec plus de plaisir que d’approbation... Le monde est plein de ces lecteurs ingrats qui après l’avoir etc, affectent de dédaigner ce que pourtant ils sont bien aise de scavoir (écoutant d’un air dédaigneux ce qu’ils sont bien aise de scavoir). Ou ce qui est grave et important, ou ce qui est inutile et foll... — Comme les amateurs; ces portraits qui sont peints avec du charbon. — Leur encre et leur peine perdues. Crébillon qui connut depuis Mʳ de Ch. aimoit à rire de l’aventure et avouoit que lui même avoit donné le conseil que etc. avoit suivi mieux qu’il ne l’avait cru. »

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]

p. 5530

I love small facts. They take up, in a way, little room in memory, which retains them easily. And besides, they always have some characteristic trait. They are signs, very good for identification. For they have had existence, if I dare speak so, only because the manners of the time, a person’s temper, his tastes, his habits, his manias are a ground that brought them forth, a terrain where they have been seen. Great events are born of things and the chain of causes. But small ones are born of man. Spontaneous productions whose seed lies in the soil and which reveal its quality!

S4.Source editor’s annotationWhat follows comes from leaf B.—Let us add to this passage a paragraph I find on an undated leaf: “Not everything is grave and important in the history of peoples, and often one finds pleasure there in the minutiae one enjoys looking at and that are not useless there, either because they relax and amuse the attention or because they enter the mind easily and, attaching themselves to memory, fix there the principal facts on which they depend. A few details after the masses introduce variety.” (These lines also have some analogy with a passage in the Anecdotes, volume I, page 97.)

S1.Source editor’s annotation“Adrien Baïllet has been mocked because he tells us that Descartes liked green taffeta, plumes, the wigs he had made in Paris, and that he had as many as four of them; that in Holland he exchanged taffeta for woolen cloth; that his great taste was for omelets made from eggs brooded for eight or ten days. (See art. Baïllet, p. 14 of the 2nd vol. hist. dict., in octavo, vol. 2.) Some are grateful to him for it.—And Voltaire himself: the regent’s ruff, Louis XIV’s two great meals, Charles IX’s blue coat with gilded copper buttons and buffalo-hide gloves.—Add Frederick the Great’s boots, even the faience niche where he liked to lie down,—Add Louis XI’s Parquédieu, Henry IV’s Ventre St gris—To welcome with more pleasure than approval... The world is full of those ungrateful readers who, after having etc., pretend to disdain what they are nevertheless glad to know (listening with a disdainful air to what they are glad to know). Either what is grave and important, or what is useless and mad...—Like the amateurs; those portraits painted with charcoal.—Their ink and their labor wasted. Crébillon, who later knew Mr. de Ch., liked to laugh at the adventure and admitted that he himself had given the advice that etc. had followed better than he had believed.”

T89.Signs and identification retain signes and signalement. Ground, terrain, seed, soil, and spontaneous productions preserve the extended growth image. The source’s grands and petits événements remain great and small rather than being changed into true and false facts.

T90.Masses preserves the visual comparison between larger groupings and details. The paragraph belongs to a separate undated leaf introduced by Beaunier. Its analogy to the Anecdotes is recorded without using that other arrangement to replace the present source.

T91.The historical anecdotes remain Joubert’s reports. Fraize is read as a ruff: Voltaire describes the regent putting one on, which supports this clothing sense. Faience denotes glazed earthenware; the niche remains a niche. Parquédieu and Ventre St gris retain the printed expressions associated here with the two kings. Add. is rendered Add. The broken after having etc., mad..., and the final advice that etc. remain incomplete. In après l’avoir etc., the object pronoun l’ has no completed verb to attach to in English; the broken after having etc. leaves that relation unresolved.

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.