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 2907 of 4529
According to Plato · Entry 6688
French
p. 5813[…]3 août.
Un beau dessin peut se passer d’une belle couleur, et une belle cou[…]ur peut se passer d’un beau dessin. Une de ces deux perfections peut […]uffire à notre plaisir. De même, lorsque dans le point principal du […]bleau une belle expression résulte soit du dessin, soit du coloris, le […]este nous importe peu, si nous écoutons plus notre sentiment que les […]ègles. Or, il arrive souvent que le sentiment est satisfait quand la […]ritique est mécontente; le sentiment n’a pas tort, quoique la critique […]it raison. Car où il y a assés de beauté pour le goût et pour le plai[…]ir, il n’y en a pas toujours assés pour le jugement et pour l’art.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: According to Plato
p. 5814August […]3.
A beautiful drawing can do without beautiful color, and beautiful [color] can do without a beautiful drawing. One of these two perfections can [suffice] for our pleasure. Likewise, when a beautiful expression results from either drawing or coloring at the principal point of a [painting], the [rest] matters little to us, if we listen more to our feeling than to the [rules]. Now it often happens that feeling is satisfied when [criticism] is dissatisfied; feeling is not wrong, although criticism [is] right. For where there is enough beauty for taste and for [pleasure], there is not always enough for judgment and for art.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · According to Plato · Entry 6688
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.