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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English Page · Branch 2767 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2767
French
p. 5533L’esprit tend à Dieu comme le feu tend vers le ciel, comme le plomb tend vers la terre. Un peu de toile, un léger voile, assoupit souvent la tendance de ce qui tombe vers le bas. Les plaisirs sont un point d’appui qui nous retient et nous arrête lorsque nous tendons vers le haut. Nous y trouvons quelque repos. Mais les esprits nés très sublimes comme les corps nés très pesants font sans cesse effort vers leur centre et ne cessent d’être agités que lorsqu’ils y sont parvenus. Les lacs du plaisir sont pour vous trop faibles et trop peu retors; votre esprit naturellement est trop vif et trop pénétrant, votre corps fait trop peu d’obstacle ou un obstacle trop peu constant à votre esprit pour que celui-ci se repose avant d’arriver jusqu’à Dieu.
Choisissons encore un exemple et expliquons avec contraste ce qui est haut par ce qui est d’en bas.
Ainsi vous allez irrésistiblement à la religion par la nature de votre esprit, comme d’autres y vont par la raison (par l’habitude, par la foi et par le cœur). Ne le retenez pas, il s’élèvera de lui-même.
Vous déchirez l’obstacle et n’y trouvez point le repos, lui étant trop faible pour vous, ou plutôt vous étant trop forte.
Et remarquez que la pierre par terre jouit de l’air et que l’esprit au ciel jouit de la terre.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5534The mind tends toward God as fire tends toward the sky, as lead tends toward the earth. A little cloth, a light veil, often lulls the tendency of what falls downward. Pleasures are a point of support that holds us back and stops us when we tend upward. We find some rest there. But minds born very sublime, like bodies born very heavy, make an unceasing effort toward their center and cease to be agitated only when they have reached it. The snares of pleasure are too weak and too loosely twisted for you; your mind is naturally too lively and too penetrating, your body offers too little an obstacle, or too inconstant an obstacle, to your mind for it to rest before reaching God.
Let us choose another example and explain through contrast what is high by what is below.
Thus you go irresistibly to religion by the nature of your mind, as others go to it by reason (by habit, by faith, and by the heart). Do not hold it back; it will rise of itself.
You tear the obstacle and find no rest in it, it being too weak for you, or rather you being too strong.
And notice that the stone on the ground enjoys the air, and that the mind in heaven enjoys the earth.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2767
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.