Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
Facing Pages · Branch 3731 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3731
French
p. 746115 décembre.
De la verve et du goût. (Diderot en parle dans ses réflexions sur Térence.) La verve a plus de mouvement, le goût un mouvement mieux ordonné. Il y a dans la première plus de vie, et plus d’âme dans le second. La verve s’élance en sautant, le goût procède avec mesure. Elle fait plus de bruit, mais lui il fait de la musique. La première est une passion, une impulsion, un besoin : elle cherche à se contenter. Le second est un sentiment : « il voudroit plaire à tout le monde », comme l’observe Diderot. L’esprit dominant la matière, la raison domptant les passions et le goût maîtrisant la verve font le caractère du beau.
La verve est la sève et le goût est le jardinier.
Elle va par élancemens.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7462December 15.
Of verve and taste. (Diderot speaks of them in his reflections on Terence.) Verve has more movement, taste a better-ordered movement. There is more life in the former, and more soul in the latter. Verve bounds forward, taste proceeds with measure. Verve makes more noise, but taste makes music. The former is a passion, an impulse, a need: it seeks to satisfy itself. The latter is a sentiment: “it would like to please everyone,” as Diderot observes. Mind dominating matter, reason subduing passions, and taste mastering verve make the character of the beautiful.
Verve is the sap, and taste is the gardener.
It moves in spurts.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3731
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.