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 3107 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3107
French
p. 6213« Il faut (dit Plutarque) être magistrat tous les jours et à toute heure. » « Connu, homme de bien, à toute heure. » — « Le gouvernement n’a point de fin particulière »; mais l’ordre en toutes choses et qui embrasse tout. L’homme de bien inquiet de la chose publique et qui en est sans cesse occupé, qui y veille, qui y rêve même en dormant, qui y pourvoit même dans ses délassements et jusques dans ses railleries, voilà le magistrat. Il doit s’occuper de l’état comme un bon fermier de son champ. La garde du troupeau.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6214“One must (says Plutarch) be a magistrate every day and at every hour.” “Known, a good man, at every hour.”—“Government has no particular end”; but order in all things and embracing everything. The good man anxious about public affairs and constantly occupied with them, who watches over them, who dreams of them even in sleep, who provides for them even in his recreations and down to his jests, there is the magistrate. He must tend to the state as a good farmer to his field. The keeping of the flock.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3107
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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.