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 3389 of 3781
YEAR 1804 · Entry 3389
French
p. 6777« Mais il n’achève pas ses phrazes » (disoit-il). Et eux, ils n’achèvent pas leurs pensées. — Achever sa pensée! Cela est long, cela est rare. Cela fait un plaisir extrême. Car toute pensée achevée entre aisément dans les esprits. Celles là n’ont pas même besoin d’être belles pour plaire. Il leur suffit d’être finies. La situation de l’âme qui les a eues se communique aux autres âmes et y transporte son repos.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1804
p. 6778“But he does not finish his phrases” (he said). And they, they do not finish their thoughts. — To finish one’s thought! It takes a long time, it is rare. It gives extreme pleasure. For every finished thought enters minds easily. Such thoughts do not even need to be beautiful to please. It is enough for them to be finished. The state of the soul that had them communicates itself to other souls and carries its repose into them.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1804 · Entry 3389
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.