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 IIYEAR 1814 · Entry 7216

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French Page · Branch 3435 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7216

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6869

30 décembre.

Les Jansénistes font de la Grâce une espèce de quatrième personne de la sainte Trinité. Ils sont (sans le croire et sans le vouloir) quaternitaires.

St Paul et St Augustin, trop étudiés ou étudiés uniquement, ont tout perdu, si on ose le dire.

Grâce : aide, secours ou mieux influence divine, céleste rosée. On s’entend alors. Ce mot est comme un talisman dont on peut briser le prestige et le maléfice en le traduisant. On en dissout tout le danger par l’analyse. Personifier les mots, mal funeste en théologie.

Ils ont trop d’horreur de la nature, qui est ceppendant l’œuvre de Dieu comme la grâce et aussi bien que la grâce, car elle même est une grâce.

Dieu avoit mis dans la nature plus d’incorruptibilité qu’ils ne le supposent, en sorte que l’infection absolue de la masse étoit impossible. Ils ôtent au père pour donner au fils.

Les Jansénistes ont trop ôté au bienfait de la création, pour donner davantage au bienfait de la rédemption.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6870

December 30.

The Jansenists make Grace a kind of fourth person of the holy Trinity. They are (without believing it and without wishing it) quaternitarians.

St. Paul and St. Augustine, studied too much or studied exclusively, have ruined everything, if one dares say so.

Grace: aid, help, or better, divine influence, heavenly dew. Then we understand one another. This word is like a talisman whose enchantment and evil spell one can break by translating it. One dissolves all its danger through analysis. Personifying words, a fatal evil in theology.

They have too great a horror of nature, which is nevertheless God’s work like grace and as much as grace, for it is itself a grace.

God had put more incorruptibility into nature than they suppose, so that the absolute infection of the mass was impossible. They take away from the father to give to the son.

The Jansenists have taken too much away from the benefit of creation, to give more to the benefit of redemption.

T140.A kind of and both parenthetic negatives remain. Quaternitarians preserves the technical coined contrast with Trinity rather than replacing it by a general accusation. Grace retains the opening capital; the judgment is attributed to Joubert’s text.

T246.Six separately indented paragraphs remain under the complete date 30 décembre. The first keeps Grâce/Trinité capitals, sainte lowercase, the fourth-person formulation and both parenthetic sans clauses. The printed quater-/nitaires is joined as quaternitaires without changing its letters. Paragraph 2 retains St twice at baseline, without an added period or raised t. The trop/ou/uniquement distinctions, perfect ont tout perdu and final si qualification remain. Paragraph 3 keeps its colon, reformulating ou mieux, repeated On clauses, analysis and the final infinitival/nominal phrase. Literal Personifier has one n. Paragraph 4 visibly has ceppendant with two p letters and spaced elle même without a hyphen. The repeated grâce and its lowercase forms remain distinct from initial Grâce in paragraphs 1 and 3. Paragraphs 5 and 6 keep the past-perfect avoit mis, comparative ne form, impossibility claim, lowercase père/fils and the final creation/redemption comparison; no doctrine or supplied referent is added. The whole color page and native spelling/edge comparisons preserve the ordinary wrapped endings and all printed letters at the qualified level, with no current reproduction gap.

T141.The two alternative study qualifications, perfect result and final hesitation remain. Exclusively describes studying these authors alone, not their own conduct. No doctrinal or historical verification is added. English St. uses ordinary abbreviated punctuation; the source’s two St forms remain at baseline without added periods.

T142.The successive glosses, self-revision and dew/talisman/dissolving images remain. Understand one another renders the ordinary reciprocal s’entend without naming interlocutors. Enchantment and evil spell keep prestige and maléfice distinct. The final nominal judgment is not given an added finite conclusion, and no technical definition replaces the author’s analysis. French Personifier is retained with one n; English Personifying does not emend its spelling.

T143.Too great, nevertheless, the repeated grace and both comparisons remain. Nature is the subject of the final it; the countable a grace is retained. No universal theological endorsement is implied by translating the claim. French ceppendant retains two p letters, and elle même remains unhyphenated; English nevertheless and itself do not repair these source forms.

T144.The past perfect, present supposition, comparative more and impossible consequence retain their scope. Infection and mass remain literal without an added doctrinal identification. The final taking/giving is separate; father and son keep the confirmed lower-case forms.

T145.The repeated benefit, creation/redemption distinction and too much/more comparison remain. The perfect taking-away is not recast as a general abstract opposition.

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.