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.

Explore the Lexicon

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IIYEAR 1814 · Entry 7049

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

French Page · Branch 3268 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7049

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6535

[…]1 juillet.

On peut plaider des causes, mais il ne faut pas plaider les loix. Plaider publiquement des loix!... quel abbus! C’est en profaner tous […]es germes. La source en doit être sacrée, et vous l’exposez au grand […]ir. Quand elles naissent d’une discussion, elles ne viennent plus d’en haut.

... quelle horrible profanation! c’est en mettre le germe à nud. La source en doit être sacrée (et par cette raison cachée) et vous l’exposez au grand air et au grand jour. Quand elles naissent de la discussion, elles ne viennent plus d’en haut ni du secret de la conscience. Elles naissent justiciables de la chicane.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6536

July […]1.

One may plead cases, but one must not plead laws. To plead laws publicly!... what an abuse! It is to profane all [their] germs. Their source must be sacred, and you expose it to the open [air]. When they are born of a discussion, they no longer come from on high.

... what a horrible profanation! it is to lay their germ bare. Their source must be sacred (and for that reason hidden), and you expose it to the open air and broad daylight. When they are born of discussion, they no longer come from on high or from the secrecy of conscience. They are born answerable to quibbling.

T220.The permission/prohibition distinction, repeated plead, infinitival exclamation and germ/source/birth images remain. Plead laws deliberately preserves the peculiar extension of legal pleading; it is not silently replaced with passing laws. Their and they refer to laws. This is Joubert’s argument, not an independent account of lawmaking. [Their] broadly renders both the intact anaphoric en and the contextual article les from […]es; the bracket is wider than the missing French initial, whose wording is not restored. [Air] interprets […]ir, with open outside as the counterpart of intact grand. The surviving day ending in 1 is not completed. The source spellings loix and abbus remain unchanged.

T522.The first day component is not a complete numeral; only final 1 is certified. Both source paragraphs remain distinct within one unit. Loix is repeated and abbus has two b letters; nud remains literal. Only es and ir survive at the two damaged openings in paragraph 1, without a supplied l or a. The capital P in Plaider retains a thin stem/foot and a separate identifiable bowl, so the full letter is qualified rather than silently erased. The initial d in d’en likewise retains its ascender and bowl despite abrasion. In paragraph 2 the source, posez, cussion and science openings have identifiable letter bodies with detached adjacent margin artifacts; no extra word or letter loss is inferred there. Independent full-page and original-resolution comparison agrees with these specific residue limits and qualified identifiable beginnings. Both printed ellipses, lower-case c’est after the exclamation, repeated singular/plural relations and the difference between une discussion and la discussion remain.

T221.The separate paragraph and opening ellipsis remain. Germ is now singular, the source is hidden, and both open-air/daylight and on-high/conscience relations remain. Answerable to quibbling renders justiciables de la chicane, preserving the judicial metaphor without asserting that an actual court is meant. English adds a comma after the closing parenthesis for readability; French retains none there. The historical nud remains unchanged in French.

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.