Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

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 2775

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English Page · Branch 2775 of 3781

[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2775

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5549

Dire seulement qu’il la créa ou qu’il la fit est plus sage. Parce que assigner le de quoi et le comment dans des questions inconnues est, comme dit Pascal, incertain, difficile, pénible, superflu et peu sûr. Cependant, lorsque le comment par supposition peut servir à inculquer plus avant l’opinion du fait réel...

Tout se fait par images. Elles entrent en nous par tous les autres sens comme par l’œil. L’écho (dit-on) est une image de la voix. Toutes nos affections sont produites par les images du toucher. Tout notre corps est un miroir.

Sa propre intelligence, cause unique de volonté.

L’ordre ou assortiment avec Dieu a l’analogie ou le rapport pour fondement.

Tous ceux qui ont beaucoup pensé à Dieu le verront sans doute.

Tout ce qui nous y fait beaucoup croire est bon. Mais il [ne] faut ni permettre ni se permettre rien de ce qui décrie la foy.

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

p. 5550

To say only that he created it or made it is wiser. For to assign the from what and the how in unknown questions is, as Pascal says, uncertain, difficult, painful, superfluous, and insecure. Yet when the how, by supposition, can serve to instill more deeply belief in the real fact...

Everything is done through images. They enter us through all the other senses as through the eye. The echo (they say) is an image of the voice. All our affections are produced by the images of touch. Our whole body is a mirror.

His own intelligence, the sole cause of will.

Order, or accord with God, has analogy or relation for its foundation.

All those who have thought much of God will doubtless see him.

Everything that makes us believe much in him is good. But one must [not] allow or allow oneself anything that discredits the faith.

T101.The italicized from what and how retain the form of Joubert’s questions about origins. The object it is not replaced with a named created thing. The final conditional reflection on supposition remains unfinished; the Pascal wording is translated as Joubert reports it.

T250.Source que assigner remains uncontracted. The six-paragraph block continues onto 368 before the next printed date. Source-editor supplied [ne] and historical foy are retained. Clipped beginnings of assigner, comme, Cependant, the inculquer continuation, Tout, notre, L’ordre and fondement are restored from surviving fragments.

T102.Images extends beyond sight to sound and touch. Affections retains the broader actions upon and states of the person rather than narrowing them to fondness. The whole-body mirror is left as Joubert’s image.

T103.His in this brief fragment follows the theological context, but the French possessive sa does not itself identify or gender the possessor. The phrase is not expanded with the name of God or a completed verb.

T104.The source editor supplies [ne]. English [not] records that intervention. The infinitives allow and allow oneself retain the general permission and the reflexive permission separately. The preceding God provides the contextual him in believe much in him.

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.