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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English Page · Branch 729 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 729
French
p. 1457Répartition vicieuse des affections humaines.
Quand on accoutume son cœur à aimer les espèces qui n’existent que pour l’esprit, on n’a plus d’attache qu’aux abstractions et on leur sacrifie aisément les réalités. Ou bien, quand on aime tous les hommes en masse, on n’a plus d’affection à leur distribuer en détail. On a dépensé toute sa bienveillance pour l’universalité. Les individus se présentent trop. De plus ces affections philosophiques qu’on ne ressent point sans effort ruinent et dessèchent par cela même notre capacité d’aimer.
Il faut tenir ses sentiments près de son cœur.
Ce qu’est le nœud dans la difficulté.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1458Faulty distribution of human affections.
When one accustoms one’s heart to love kinds that exist only for the mind, one is attached only to abstractions and readily sacrifices realities to them. Or, when one loves all men en masse, one has no affection left to distribute to them individually. One has spent all one’s benevolence on the whole. Individuals present themselves too much. Moreover, these philosophical affections, which one cannot feel without effort, by that very fact ruin and dry up our capacity to love.
One must keep one’s feelings close to one’s heart.
What the knot is in the difficulty.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 729
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.