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 658 of 3781
YEAR 1796 · Entry 658
French
p. 13158 octobre.
Les pères aiment leurs enfans parce qu’ils sont leurs. Plus donc un enfant sera par les lois la propriété de son père, plus il en sera aimé. Il faut pour le bonheur des enfans eux-mêmes donner à l’autorité paternelle une grande étendue, un grand appui.
Il ne faut pas néanmoins qu’un enfant soit la chose de son père comme l’entendoit Diderot, mais qu’il en soit la personne, qu’il lui apartienne en un mot, autant qu’un être humain peut appartenir à un homme.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1796
p. 1316October 8.
Fathers love their children because they are theirs. The more, then, a child is his father’s property under the laws, the more he will be loved by him. For the happiness of the children themselves, paternal authority must be given a great extent, a great support.
Yet a child must not be his father’s thing, as Diderot understood it, but his person; in a word, he must belong to him as much as a human being can belong to a man.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1796 · Entry 658
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.