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 2820 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2820
French
p. 5639Anecdotes. — Mʳ Piscatori jouoit le rôle d’une ombre dans un proverbe où Mme Hqrt [Hocquart?] jouoit Proserpine. En l’appercevant, il s’écria : « Ah! si j’avois mon corps sur moi! » Le même disoit du... de Mʳ de L... : « Dans sa traduction, il n’a ôté que le plus gros de l’allemand. » Et à la trésorerie où il étoit payeur général pendant la révolution, il avoit fait écrire sur la porte de son bureau : « Ici on ne donne que le titre de citoyen. »
Mme de La Ferté Imbault disoit des deux frères Sᵗᵉ Palaye : « Tant qu’ils ont vécu, je n’ai jamais pu décider lequel des deux j’aimais le plus. Maintenant que l’autre est mort, je vois bien que c’est celui ci. »
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5640Anecdotes.—Mr. Piscatori was playing a shade in a proverb play in which Mme Hqrt [Hocquart?] played Proserpina. On seeing her, he exclaimed: “Ah! if I had my body on me!” The same man said of Mr. de L...’s...: “In his translation, he has removed only the coarsest part of the German.” And at the treasury, where he was paymaster general during the revolution, he had had this written on his office door: “Here we give only the title of citizen.”
Mme de La Ferté Imbault said of the two brothers Sᵗᵉ Palaye: “As long as they lived, I could never decide which of the two I loved more. Now that the other is dead, I see clearly that it is this one.”
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2820
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.