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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Facing Pages · Branch 3097 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3097
French
p. 6193Il n’y a pas de bruit où il n’y a pas d’ouïe, pas d’image où il n’y a pas d’yeux. Il me semble pourtant qu’il peut y avoir là de la lumière. C’est qu’en effet nous avons de la lumière cette idée qu’elle peut exister sans concours. Nous la concevons même incréée, perpétuelle et éternelle.
Un son perpétuel nous deviendroit insupportable, une image toujours la même nous lasseroit. Mais une belle et douce lumière toujours égale pourroit fort bien nous plaire toujours également.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6194There is no noise where there is no hearing, no image where there are no eyes. Yet it seems to me that there may be light there. That is because we do indeed have this idea of light: that it can exist without participation. We even conceive of it as uncreated, perpetual, and eternal.
A perpetual sound would become unbearable to us, an image always the same would weary us. But a beautiful, gentle light, always even, might very well always please us equally.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3097
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.