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 3256 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3256
French
p. 651117 décembre.
La simplicité? Oui. Mais la simplicité dans l’art. Car, quoi qu’en dise l’aimable Mme de Sévigné, on peut, en un certain sens, avoir « des cheveux naturellement frisés avec cent papillottes, et naturellement poudrés avec une livre de poudre ». On dit de beaucoup de parures qu’elles sont simples; ce sont celles où aucun détail disproportionné n’empêche de voir tout l’ensemble d’un seul coup d’œil; et par une sorte de déplacement, on appelle simple dans les objets, ce qui n’excite en les considérant qu’un acte simple ou un seul acte de l’esprit, transportant sur ce qui l’exerçoit une qualité qui est en nous.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6512December 17.
Simplicity? Yes. But simplicity in art. For, whatever the amiable Mme de Sévigné may say, one can, in a certain sense, have “hair naturally curled with a hundred curling papers, and naturally powdered with a pound of powder.” Many adornments are called simple; they are those in which no disproportionate detail prevents one from seeing the whole ensemble at a single glance; and by a kind of displacement, we call simple in objects what, in contemplating them, elicits only a simple act or a single act of the mind, transferring to what exercised it a quality that is within us.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3256
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.