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 3557 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3557
French
p. 711329 juin.
Cet homme n’a point la tête d’un homme d’esprit, il n’en a que la langue. Il n’y a rien de vif et de naïf dans ses opinions, tout y est raisonné. Ses métaphores sont toujours froides et ne naissent jamais du mouvement. Il n’a ni de quoi entrer dans les idées des autres ni de quoi faire entrer les autres dans ses idées. Il sort des phrazes de sa tête. Il ne voit que des phrazes dans les idées qui sortent de la tête des autres.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7114June 29.
This man does not have the head of a man of wit, only his tongue. There is nothing lively and artless in his opinions, everything in them is reasoned. His metaphors are always cold and never arise from movement. He has neither the means to enter others’ ideas nor the means to make others enter his. Phrases come out of his head. He sees only phrases in the ideas that come out of others’ heads.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3557
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.