Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
French Page · Branch 3117 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3117
French
p. 6233Mardi 22 septembre.
Bossuet employe tous nos idiomes, comme Homère employa tous les dialectes. Le langage des rois, des politiques, des guerriers, celui du peuple et du scavant; le village et l’école, le sanctuaire et le bareau, le vieux et le nouveau, le trivial et le pompeux, le sourd et le sonore, tout lui sert et de tout cela il fait un style simple, grave, majestueux. Ses idées sont comme ses mots, variées, communes et sublimes.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6234Tuesday, September 22.
Bossuet uses all our idioms, as Homer used all the dialects. The language of kings, statesmen, warriors, that of the people and the scholar; the village and the school, the sanctuary and the bar, the old and the new, the commonplace and the splendid, the muted and the sonorous, all serves him, and from all this he makes a simple, grave, majestic style. His ideas are like his words, varied, common, and sublime.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3117
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.