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 35 of 3781
YEAR 1783 · Entry 35
French
p. 69A proportion que l’intelligence par laquelle l’homme entre en commerce avec la société se développe dans l’enfant, l’organe par lequel un sexe communique avec l’autre sexe se développe aussi. Prenés deux enfans du même âge, le plus réfléchi, le plus sage est toujours le moins innocent. S’il n’a pas encore fait les actes de l’homme, il en a du moins les passions. Et de tous les objets sur lesquels l’intelligence naissante peut s’exercer, les plus propres à hâter les goûts sexuels sont les objets qui sont naturellement réservés pour la maturité et l’âge nubile.
Aussi les petites filles chargées du soin des enfans en bas âge sont-elles plutôt femmes dans le cœur que les autres. Elles prennent avec facilité l’air et les attentions des mères, mais elles prennent en même temps un désir précoce de le devenir et une curiosité, qu’elles savent bien satisfaire, des moïens par lesquels on le devient.
Comme elles ont toujours sous les ïeux des individus humains, elles n’ont pour sujet d’observation que leur espèce ; elles ne tardent pas à en étudier la destination membre par membre. Et comme elles se donnent à leurs propres ïeux l’importance et le rôle des femmes faites, elles en éprouvent bientôt les appétits.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1783
p. 70No individual date printed
As the intelligence by which man enters into relations with society develops in the child, the organ by which one sex communicates with the other also develops. Take two children of the same age: the more reflective, the wiser is always the less innocent. If he has not yet performed the acts of a man, he at least has a man’s passions. And of all the objects upon which dawning intelligence can exercise itself, those most apt to hasten sexual inclinations are the objects naturally reserved for maturity and marriageable age.
Thus little girls charged with caring for infants become women at heart sooner than others. They readily take on the air and attentions of mothers, but at the same time they take on a premature desire to become mothers and a curiosity, which they know well how to satisfy, about the means by which one becomes a mother.
As they always have human individuals before their eyes, their own species is their only subject of observation; they soon study its purpose, body part by body part. And as they give themselves, in their own eyes, the importance and role of grown women, they soon experience their appetites.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1783 · Entry 35
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.