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 3086 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3086
French
p. 617116 septembre.
Les pompes de la flatterie et les simplicités de la grandeur (même ses négligences) : (Voltaire, l’élégance d’un courtisan. Bossuet, la simplicité d’un grand homme.) Les arrangemens du mensonge ou de la fiction, l’abandon de la vérité — ou mieux — tant d’attention à plaire à son lecteur annonce plus de vanité que de vertu, plus le projet de séduire que celui de servir, plus d’ambition que d’authorité, plus d’art que de nature et tous ces agrémens exigent plus un grand maître qu’un grand homme.
Et cependant le soin de bien dire la vérité, d’aprivoiser l’attention est un devoir, une fonction du sage, une marque de sa bonté.
Bossuet. Son style, où la franchise et la bonhommie gauloise se font sentir avec tant de grandeur. Il est pompeux, il est sublime et populaire. Il est presque naïf.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6172September 16.
The pomps of flattery and the simplicities of greatness (even its negligences): (Voltaire, the elegance of a courtier. Bossuet, the simplicity of a great man.) The arrangements of falsehood or fiction, the unconstraint of truth—or better—so much attention to pleasing one’s reader bespeaks more vanity than virtue, more intent to seduce than to serve, more ambition than authority, more art than nature, and all these graces call for a great master more than a great man.
And yet the care taken to speak truth well, to tame attention, is a duty, a function of the sage, a mark of his goodness.
Bossuet. His style, in which Gaulish frankness and good nature make themselves felt with such grandeur. He is full of pomp, he is sublime and popular. He is almost artless.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3086
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.