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 943 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 943
French
p. 18855 décembre.
Propositions à examiner. — Qu’on n’a pas de religion si l’on n’a pas celle d’un autre; qu’on ne peut pas faire à son gré un culte et une loi que l’on observe; que le sentiment et la pratique ne peuvent en exister pleinement dans l’homme que par la communication; qu’ainsi l’a voulu la nature éternelle des choses. Et cette loi de la statique qui veut que le levier soit hors du poids et que la volonté (détermination) ait ses motifs hors d’elle-même. Que les inventeurs et fondateurs des religions qui les ont crues et observées fidèlement ne contredisent point cette règle parce que, chef des sectes, ils avoient la religion de leurs sectateurs dont la conviction inculquoit en eux par sa réaction la foi qu’ils en avoient reçue.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1886December 5.
Propositions to examine. — That one has no religion unless one has someone else’s; that one cannot make to one’s own liking a worship and a law that one observes; that its feeling and practice can exist fully in man only through communication; that the eternal nature of things has so willed it. And this law of statics that requires the lever to be outside the weight and the will (determination) to have its motives outside itself. That the inventors and founders of religions who believed in them and faithfully observed them do not contradict this rule because, as heads of sects, they had the religion of their followers, whose conviction, by its reaction, instilled in them the faith they had received from them.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 943
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.