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 2872 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 2872
French
p. 5743Toutes ces théories où il ne se trouve rien pour la morale sont incomplettes évidemment, puisque cela y manque. Leur inutilité est le signe de leur imperfection. Mais quand elles ne sont plus que des chemins qui aboutissent à des précipices, il est manifeste qu’on s’est trompé de voye. Veux-tu scavoir..., vois où cela conduit. Quelquefois ceppendant la bonne route paroit n’avoir conduit à rien, mais c’est parce qu’on n’est pas encore arrivé et qu’on traverse le désert. Il faut aller jusques au bout. Mais quand le bout est un marais, un gouffre, un abyme, un cloaque, et qu’au delà tu ne vois rien, hâte toi, reviens sur tes pas; ne demeure pas où leur esprit s’est embourbé.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 5744All these theories in which there is nothing for morality are plainly incomplete, since that is missing from them. Their uselessness is the sign of their imperfection. But when they are no more than paths ending at precipices, it is clear that one has taken the wrong way. Do you want to know..., see where it leads. Sometimes, however, the right road seems to have led nowhere, but that is because one has not yet arrived and is crossing the desert. One must go to the end. But when the end is a marsh, a chasm, an abyss, a cesspool, and you see nothing beyond it, make haste, retrace your steps; do not remain where their mind has sunk in the mud.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 2872
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.