Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II1812 · Entry 6289

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French Page · Branch 2508 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6289

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5015

3 mars.

Tendres aux faiblesses, mais insensibles aux malheurs. Tandis que ces hommes sévères que vous appellez jansénistes, pleins d’une tendre compassion pour les malheurs non mérités, entrent dans toutes les douleurs, les partagent et les secourent. Ils aiment l’ordre et la vertu comme vous aimez le plaisir et la beauté. Ils sont touchés de ce qui est juste; vous l’êtes de ce que vous plaît.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5016

March 3.

Tender toward weaknesses, but insensible to misfortunes. Whereas those severe men whom you call Jansenists, full of a tender compassion for undeserved misfortunes, enter into all sorrows, share them and succor them. They love order and virtue as you love pleasure and beauty. They are touched by what is just; you are by what pleases you.

T51.The initial adjectival fragment and Whereas remain. Tenderness recurs, with undeserved misfortunes distinguished from weaknesses. Entering, sharing and succoring retain their unusual objects; no new group or events are supplied. The final paired judgments retain different criteria. The irregular printed ce que vous plaît is retained in French; idiomatic English what pleases you cannot reproduce the French relative-pronoun anomaly.

T398.The opening plural adjectival fragment and Tandis que construction remain. Appellez has the printed double l. The final phrase visibly reads ce que vous plaît, with e rather than i in que; its irregular relative construction is retained. The right-edge endings of tendre, les, vertu and the earlier qui are abraded but retain recognizable shapes. Detached marks farther into the margin do not certify additional words. The distinction between weaknesses and undeserved misfortunes, the repeated pronouns and the contrast of juste/plaisir remain.

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.