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 766 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 766
French
p. 1531Mais, en abbandonnant ces religions, ne vous semble-t-il pas que la philosophie les a pillées? mais qu’elle ne leur a pris que ce qu’elles avoient de noir et de sombre, c’est-à-dire d’humain et d’épais. De là ces méditations sur les tombeaux, sur les ruines... Et observez que ces sortes de livres ont des lecteurs parce que les esprits accoutumés autrefois par les prêtres à ce genre d’impression reviennent aisément à cette partie de leurs premières habitudes dont l’orgueil les éloigne, mais auxquelles malgré eux la nature les ramène. On aime les capucinades, mais on les veut philosophiques. La partie consolante qui est leur essence n’a pu leur être dérobée parce qu’en effet elle en est inséparable. Elle s’est comme évaporée entre des mains profanatrices. Composées de lumières et de brouillards, c’est leurs brouillards qu’on leur a pris. Les grossiers n’agissent que grossièrement.
Les capucinades d’un capucin sont à leur place comme les arlequinades d’un arlequin.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1532But in abandoning these religions, does it not seem to you that philosophy has plundered them? Yet that it has taken from them only what they had that was black and somber, that is, human and thick. Hence these meditations on tombs, on ruins... And observe that these sorts of books have readers because minds once accustomed by priests to this kind of impression readily return to that part of their earliest habits from which pride estranges them, but to which nature leads them back despite themselves. We like Capuchin preachments, but we want them philosophical. The consoling part, which is their essence, could not be stolen from them because it is indeed inseparable from them. It has, as it were, evaporated amid profaning hands. Composed of lights and mists, it is their mists that have been taken from them. The coarse act only coarsely.
A Capuchin’s Capuchin preachments are in their place, like a Harlequin’s harlequinades.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 766
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.