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 3596 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3596
French
p. 7191Dieu, l’espace, le temps, l’unité : idées simples. L’esprit est ce qui est participant de Dieu.
La matière. Et on prête à tous les corps une essence ou une espèce d’esprit qui les personifie pour en concevoir l’individualité plus aisément. On les affine ainsi.
Le temps est du mouvement sur de l’espace, une boule sur un billard. Pour le mieux mesurer, nous nous faisons des montres de toutes choses. Le mouvement de notre pouls est le secret régulateur par lequel nous mesurons toutes les autres successions; et nous sommes par notre pouls des horloges à secondes.
Notre stature est la mesure naturelle, la mesure première de ce qui nous sert à toiser. Ainsi les dénominations pied, palme, coudée, brasse ou brassée.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7192God, space, time, unity: simple ideas. Spirit is that which partakes of God.
Matter. And we lend all bodies an essence or a kind of spirit that personifies them, so as to conceive their individuality more easily. We refine them in this way.
Time is movement over space, a ball on a billiard table. To measure it better, we make watches for ourselves out of everything. The movement of our pulse is the secret regulator by which we measure all other successions; and through our pulse we are clocks that mark seconds.
Our stature is the natural measure, the first measure of what we use to measure lengths. Hence the names foot, palm, cubit, fathom or armful.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3596
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.