Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 1042 of 4529
Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4823
French
p. 208326 septembre.
Erreurs (dans la physique) insupportables, méprisées (premier fait). Erreurs dans la métaphysique, quoique reconnues ou non adoptées, peuvent plaire et même être admirées, deuxième fait. Pourquoi.
Quand ce qui est immatériel manque de solidité, on ne peut en rien faire et on le rejette. Mais l’apparence seule dans ce qui est purement imaginé lui tient lieu de solidité. L’apparence est son existence et sa réalité.
D’ailleurs Dieu et le monde sont si grands et ont tant de faces, tant de côtés et de rapports que tout ce qu’on peut en imaginer de plausible est vrai.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné.
p. 2084September 26.
Errors (in physics), unbearable, despised (first fact). Errors in metaphysics, though recognized or not adopted, can please and even be admired, second fact. Why.
When what is immaterial lacks solidity, one can do nothing with it and rejects it. But in what is purely imagined, appearance alone takes the place of solidity. Appearance is its existence and its reality.
Besides, God and the world are so great and have so many faces, so many sides and relations, that everything plausible one can imagine of them is true.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · Mr. Hochet and Mme de Sévigné. · Entry 4823
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 II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. 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.