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 3604 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3604
French
p. 7207Il faut agir tant que l’on vit. Mais quoi? faut-il agir à la fin de la vie comme au milieu ou au commencement. À cette époque, notre action ne doit-elle pas être dirigée autrement que dans d’autres temps? Faut-il alors agir pour ce qui fuit ou pour ce qui s’approche?
Pour moi, je crois qu’il faut planter et non bâtir, quoiqu’en aient dit les jeunes hommes. Le temps et la santé, quand ils changent, changent aussi notre tâche et nos obligations.
Et — tout âge est près de sa fin — Ainsi il y a un avenir qui est toujours pro[che] et dont il nous importe à tous de nous occuper également, avenir que la jeunesse a sous les pieds : la vieillesse le voit placé devant ses yeux.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7208One must act as long as one lives. But what? must one act at the end of life as in the middle or at the beginning. At that stage, should not our action be directed differently than at other times? Must one then act for what is fleeing or for what is approaching?
For my part, I believe one must plant and not build, whatever the young men may have said. Time and health, when they change, also change our task and our obligations.
And — every age is near its end — Thus there is a future that is always ne[ar] and that it matters equally to us all to attend to, a future that youth has beneath its feet: old age sees it placed before its eyes.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3604
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.