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 885 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 885
French
p. 176921 août.
Le soleil des esprits et le miroir de toutes choses. (Vid. alib.)
Ouvrage qui sent le soleil, ouvrage qui sent la chandelle.
Les sonates d’Isocrate...
La résignation est cent fois plus aisée que le courage, parce qu’elle a hors de nous un motif et que le courage n’en a pas. Si donc l’un et l’autre diminuent les maux, employons celui des deux qui les diminue le mieux. (Hors de nous, c’est à dire hors de notre volonté.)
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1770August 21.
The sun of minds and the mirror of all things. (See elsewhere.)
A work that smells of the sun, a work that smells of the candle.
The sonatas of Isocrates...
Resignation is a hundred times easier than courage, because it has a motive outside us and courage does not. If, then, both diminish our ills, let us use whichever diminishes them best. (Outside us, that is, outside our will.)
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 885
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.