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 1306 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5087
French
p. 2611Il y a entre le comique et le plaisant, la différence du joli au beau dans l’art, et la différence de l’homme original à l’homme singulier dans la société... Aussi, dans la littérature, ce qui est vraiment comique appartient au génie. Ce qui est plaisant appartient à l’esprit.
On peut rendre tout plaisant, mais on ne peut pas rendre tout comique. Le comique ne se fait pas, il faut le trouver fait et le mettre en œuvre. Le comique est dans le monde, le plaisant n’est que dans les livres, dans les discours, dans nos idées. Le comique est la vérité, le plaisant est un déguisement. Le premier tient au fonds de l’homme, et l’autre à la surface des actions et des mouvemens.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 2612Between the comic and the amusing there is the difference between the pretty and the beautiful in art, and the difference between an original man and a peculiar man in society... Thus, in literature, what is truly comic belongs to genius. What is amusing belongs to wit.
One can make everything amusing, but one cannot make everything comic. The comic cannot be made; one must find it made and put it to work. The comic is in the world; the amusing is only in books, in speech, in our ideas. The comic is truth; the amusing is a disguise. The first belongs to the depths of man, the other to the surface of actions and movements.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5087
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.