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 3182 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3182
French
p. 636326 octobre.
(En effet) que de choses on dit de bonne foi en discourant sur un sujet, qu’on ne penseroit si on se bornoit à le connoître sans en parler. L’esprit, s’échauffe et sa chaleur produit ce qu’il ne tireroit pas de sa lumière. Parler est une source d’erreurs, peut être aussi de quelques vérités. La parole a des ailes. Elle porte où l’on n’iroit pas. Nécessité de discourir, nécessité d’en trop dire, de surabbonder.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6364October 26.
(Indeed) how many things one says in good faith while discoursing on a subject that one would not think if one confined oneself to knowing it without speaking of it. The mind, grows heated, and its heat produces what it would not draw from its light. Speaking is a source of errors, perhaps also of a few truths. Speech has wings. It carries one where one would not go. The necessity of discoursing, the necessity of saying too much, of superabounding.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3182
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.