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 3050 of 4529
According to Plato · Entry 6831
French
p. 6099O qu’il faut peu de chose pour empêcher un vers, un poëme, une estampe, un tableau, un trait, un visage, un discours, une parole, un accent, un geste, une note etc. d’être touchants! (ou d’atteindre).
Par exemple, la roideur du personnage principal dans l’Ugolin et le Marius, le nez dans l’Hébé de Peters, la sécheresse de la pointe dans ces estampes au burin.
Il ne faut, pour parvenir à toucher, ni trop de pointe car on la fuit, ni trop peu car on ne la suit pas. Enfin rien de ce qui [a] ou trop d’aspérités ou trop de couverture ne peut toucher.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: According to Plato
p. 6100Oh, how little it takes to keep a verse, a poem, a print, a painting, a stroke, a face, a speech, a word, an accent, a gesture, a note, etc., from being touching! (or from reaching).
For example, the stiffness of the principal figure in the Ugolino and the Marius, the nose in Peters’s Hebe, the dryness of the point in those burin engravings.
To succeed in touching, there must be neither too much point, for one flees it, nor too little, for one does not follow it. In the end, nothing that [has] either too many rough edges or too much covering can touch.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · According to Plato · Entry 6831
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.