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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French Page · Branch 1697 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5478
French
p. 339328 décembre.
Déplacer la force — ou plutôt — placer la puissance où la force n’est pas et la lui donner pour contrepoids. C’est le secret du monde. D’où il suit que plus il y a dans un état de puissance ou de force morale en opposition avec la force réelle ou physique, plus cet état est habilement constitué.
Il n’y a point d’art, point d’équilibre et de beauté politique chez un peuple où la force et la puissance se trouvent dans les mêmes mains, c’est à dire dans le grand nombre, comme dans les démocraties — dont l’histoire n’a de l’éclat et de l’intérêt que lorsque la force se déplace réellement, je disois par l’effet de l’ascendant de quelque homme vertueux sur tous les mouvemens de la multitude qui seule est forte par elle même et sans fiction. De la fiction! il en faut partout; et la politique elle même est une espèce de poësie.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 3394December 28.
To displace force — or rather — to place power where force is not, and give it to force as a counterweight. That is the secret of the world. From which it follows that the more power or moral force there is in a state in opposition to real or physical force, the more skillfully that state is constituted.
There is no art, no equilibrium and political beauty among a people where force and power are in the same hands, that is to say, in the many, as in democracies — whose history has brilliance and interest only when force is really displaced, I was saying through the ascendancy of some virtuous man over all the movements of the multitude, which alone is strong in itself and without fiction. Fiction! it is needed everywhere; and politics itself is a kind of poetry.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5478
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.