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 141 of 4529
YEAR 1805 · Entry 3922
French
p. 281« Ton sort est d’admirer et non pas de scavoir. » (Delile.) Un pareil sort est un bonheur. Plus grand encore est celui de l’homme qui peut à la fois et scavoir et admirer. Et, à ce propos, Nota. Du scavoir qui ôte l’admiration. C’est un mauvais scavoir. Par ce scavoir, la mémoire se substituë à la vuë, tout est interverti. Un homme devenu tellement anatomiste qu’il en a cessé d’être homme ne voit dans la plus noble et la [plus] touchante démarche qu’un jeu de muscles, — comme un facteur d’orgues qui n’entendroit dans la plus belle musique exécutée par cet instrument que les petits bruits du clavier. Tout est de l’or en barre pour un simple essayeur de métaux. Il fond tout, en idée, pour le mettre dans son creuset. Il pèse les chefs-d’œuvre. Son œil dissout les candélabres.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805
p. 282“Your lot is to admire, not to know.” (Delile.) Such a lot is a happiness. Greater still is that of the man who can both know and admire. And, on that subject, Nota. Of knowledge that takes away admiration. It is bad knowledge. Through this knowledge, memory takes the place of sight; everything is reversed. A man who has become so much an anatomist that he has ceased to be a man sees in the noblest and [most] touching movement only a play of muscles, — like an organ builder who heard in the most beautiful music played on that instrument only the little noises of the keyboard. Everything is gold in bars to a mere assayer of metals. He melts everything, in thought, to put it into his crucible. He weighs masterpieces. His eye dissolves candelabra.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1805 · Entry 3922
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.