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 1606 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5387
French
p. 321112 août.
Patience et pénétration font en effet tout le génie. Mais il faudroit y ajouter facilité et promptitude. Dans sa dernière opération, qui consiste à exécuter, Voltaire eut ces dernières qualités et n’eut pas les deux autres. N. possède les premières, mais les deux dernières lui manquent. Les premières au surplus sont les plus importantes. Avec elles on a du moins du génie pour soi, si on n’en a pas pour tout le monde, au lieu qu’avec les deux dernières on a une espèce de génie pour les autres, mais on n’en a pas du tout pour soi, car on ne jouit ni de ses sentimens ni de ses idées.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 3212August 12.
Patience and penetration do indeed make up the whole of genius. But ease and promptness should be added to them. In its final operation, which consists in execution, Voltaire had these latter qualities and did not have the other two. N. possesses the first, but lacks the last two. The first, moreover, are the most important. With them one has at least genius for oneself, if one does not have it for everyone, whereas with the last two one has a kind of genius for others, but none at all for oneself, for one enjoys neither one’s sentiments nor one’s ideas.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5387
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.