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 3155 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3155
French
p. 6309Pour qu’une expression soit belle, il faut qu’elle dise plus qu’il n’est nécessaire en disant pourtant avec précision ce qu’il faut. Il faut que le trop et l’assés s’y trouvent réunis et qu’il y ait en elle abbondance et œconomie. Il faut que l’étroit et le vaste, le peu et le beaucoup s’y confondent. Il faut que le son en soit bref et le sens infini. Exemple : discentem credere opportet (Aristot.) Tout ce qui est lumineux a ce caractère. Une lampe et sa mèche éclairent à la fois parfaitement l’objet auquel on les applique et vingt autres auquels on ne songeoit pas à les appliquer.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6310For an expression to be beautiful, it must say more than is necessary while still saying precisely what is needed. Too much and enough must be joined in it, and there must be abundance and economy within it. The narrow and the vast, the little and the much must blend in it. Its sound must be brief and its sense infinite. Example: discentem credere opportet (Aristot.) Everything luminous has this character. A lamp and its wick at once perfectly illuminate the object to which they are applied and twenty others to which no one had thought of applying them.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3155
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.