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 55 of 3781
ANNÉES 1779-1783 · Entry 55
French
p. 109VIII
La vie est un pays que les vieillards ont vu et habité. Ceux qui doivent le parcourir ne peuvent s’adresser qu’à eux pour leur en demander les routes.
Nota. — Toutes les voluptés naissent de quelque communauté. Celles de l’amour, de la communauté des attouchemens, soit qu’ils s’opèrent par les regards, par le contact ou par la pensée. Celles de l’amitié, de la communauté des humeurs et des sentimens ou de la disposition à souffrir les mêmes fortunes ensemble. Celles de l’estime et de l’admiration proviennent du rapport mutuel qui se rencontre entre les qualités de l’un et le goût, les opinions de l’autre. Mais les voluptés des vieillards sont dans les conversations de ce qu’on a vu, de ce qu’on a su, de ce qu’on a fait et de ce que l’on a pensé. Ne pouvant plus s’entretenir avec eux-mêmes etc. leurs plaisirs viennent du dehors.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: ANNÉES 1779-1783
p. 110No individual date printed
VIII
Life is a country the old have seen and inhabited. Those who must travel through it can turn only to them to ask about its roads.
Note. — All delights arise from some communion. Those of love, from the sharing of touches, whether they take place through looks, through contact, or through thought. Those of friendship, from the sharing of moods and feelings or from the disposition to suffer the same fortunes together. Those of esteem and admiration arise from the mutual relation found between the qualities of one person and the taste, the opinions of the other. But the delights of the old lie in conversations about what one has seen, what one has known, what one has done, and what one has thought. No longer able to converse with themselves, etc., their pleasures come from outside.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · ANNÉES 1779-1783 · Entry 55
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.