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 3288 of 3781
[On Voltaire.] · Entry 3288
French
p. 6575L’âme qui parle à Dieu et qui se parle à elle même. Comment elle lui parle, comment elle se parle à soi. Elle cherche à s’interresser. L’esprit, quand il se parle, ne se trace qu’un simple plan et un toisé de chaque objet. C’est là sa somme toute.
Et Dieu même, comment les hommes imaginent-ils qu’il leur parleroit? Employeroit-il ce langage de l’esprit pur qui ne diroit rien à leur cœur. C’est un langage de scavant, mais il n’est divin ni humain. Il n’est que docte. Et à ce propos, les 4 pouces de terre calcaire du Cᵗᵉ de Milly. Il étoit chimiste. C’étoit là tout l’homme pour lui.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Voltaire.]
p. 6576The soul that speaks to God and speaks to itself. How it speaks to him, how it speaks to itself. It seeks to interest itself. The mind, when it speaks to itself, draws for itself only a simple plan and a measurement of each object. That is its sum total.
And God himself, how do men imagine he would speak to them? Would he use that language of the pure mind that would say nothing to their heart. It is a scholar’s language, but it is neither divine nor human. It is only learned. And on this subject, the Count de Milly’s 4 inches of calcareous earth. He was a chemist. That was the whole man for him.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Voltaire.] · Entry 3288
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.