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 2798 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2798
French
p. 55957 mars.
Ces phrazes sont des cénotaphes, ou tombeaux vuides. Montrant le plein aux yeux, elles sonnent le creux à l’esprit. Il n’y a pas en elles assés de sens. Un faux cube, des dés pipés. — De certaines formes de phrazes exigent une grande plénitude de sens. Le cube convient au solide, il en donne l’idée : si le solide y manque, il y a mensonge. Le tour sentencieux, si la sentence y manque et n’est dedans... comme Toinette, dans le Malade imaginaire, fait semblant de parler et ne dit rien.
L’attention perdue, l’attente trompée et la prétention sans droit, l’effort où l’on ne peut atteindre...
Style qui étreint et ne prend rien. Qui trop étreint mal embrasse, dit un proverbe, et : qui trop serre et ne tient rien.
Rien n’est pire au monde qu’un ouvrage médiocre qui fait semblant d’être excellent.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5596March 7.
These sentences are cenotaphs, or empty tombs. Looking full to the eye, they sound hollow to the mind. There is not enough meaning in them. A false cube, loaded dice.—Certain forms of sentence require a great fullness of meaning. The cube suits the solid, gives the idea of it: if the solid is missing, there is a lie. The sententious turn, if the maxim is missing and is not inside... like Toinette in The Imaginary Invalid, pretends to speak and says nothing.
Attention wasted, expectation deceived and a claim without right, the effort where one cannot reach...
Style that grips and takes nothing. Who grips too much embraces poorly, says a proverb, and: who squeezes too much and holds nothing.
Nothing in the world is worse than a mediocre work that pretends to be excellent.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2798
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.