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 IIAccording to Plato · Entry 6657

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English Page · Branch 2876 of 4529

According to Plato · Entry 6657

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5751

11 août (A Issy.)

A 50 ans, le progrès pour le philosophe est de rétrograder et d[…] voir où il a failli.

Le progrès dans l’âge mûr est de revenir sur ses pas. (Et de voir où l’on fut trompé.) Le désabusement dans la vieillesse est une grand[…] découverte.

« Dieu fit du repentir la vertu des mortels. » Il en fit aussi leur sagesse. La rétractation est à nos erreurs ce que la confession est […] nos fautes, un devoir, un remède, une expiation.

L’esprit du sage a comme sa conscience ses examens, ses afflictions, sa honte et ses fermes propos.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: According to Plato

p. 5752

August 11 (At Issy.)

At fifty, progress for the philosopher is to go backward and [to] see where he has failed.

Progress in mature age is to retrace one’s steps. (And to see where one was deceived.) Disabusement in old age is a [great] discovery.

“God made repentance the virtue of mortals.” He also made it their wisdom. Retraction is to our errors what confession is [to] our faults, a duty, a remedy, an expiation.

The wise man’s mind, like his conscience, has its examinations, its afflictions, its shame and its firm resolutions.

T159.The stated age, philosopher, backward movement and failed remain. The date and Issy circumstance retain their own exact source metadata. [To] contextually renders de from d[…] before voir, while the first to is intact English syntax; no French ending is recovered.

T557.All four paragraphs remain separate, including the inline quoted verse in paragraph 3. The age 50 statement remains in paragraph 1 rather than supplying a date inference. Initial A in the place circumstance and age statement is plain, with unrelated nearby artifacts. At the right edge, the ending after d in paragraph 1 and after grand in paragraph 2 is materially incomplete; the isolated remnant after est in paragraph 3 does not certify à. The expected completions remain contextual possibilities only. The identifiable but worn terminal r of leur and wrapped c of afflictions are retained with this qualification. The circumstance and its period remain inside the printed date parentheses.

T160.The parenthetic infinitive and the distinction between mature age and old age remain. Disabusement preserves the removal of deception without automatically adding disappointment or cynicism. [Great] contextually renders grande from grand[…], without restoring the lost ending.

T161.The quoted verse is identified in the primary preflight as Voltaire’s Olympie II.2, spoken by the hierophant. The following wisdom extension remains Joubert’s separate sentence. The error/fault and retraction/confession pairs and three final nouns remain; no additional drama is inserted. [To] contextually renders the lost à after est; the first to in the analogy is intact. The external control is a bounded modern electronic primary French scene, not an original 1764 page or Joubert’s copy.

T162.The comparison, four repeated possessives and firm resolutions remain. The final propos is interpreted through the examination/confession context, without supplying a prescribed devotional practice.

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.