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 734 of 4529
YEAR 1806 · Entry 4515
French
p. 1467Car, mon cher Panson, la nature qui a voulu que l’homme les aimât, a fait beau dans les femmes tout ce qui est l’indice de leur sexe. Mais comme elle a voulu au contraire rendre les femmes retenues, elle a rendu rebutant tout ce qui annonce le sexe de l’homme, comme la barbe etc. préparant ainsi toutes choses affin que les femmes ne pussent aimer par plaisir que ce qu’elles auroient d’abord aimé par devoir. De plus, la nécessité de se vêtir leur fut imposée par les élémens et par l’intelligence : car ils comprirent que dans la nudité il y avoit des endroits qui n’étoient pas beaux. « Tu le fais nud (dirent-ils à Prométhée ». Qu’importe (dit il) si je lui donne l’industrie de se vêtir. » Aussi la nudité est un signe de stupidité chez les peuples sauvages et de dépravation de leur nature chez les peuples polis.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1806
p. 1468For, my dear Panson, nature, wishing man to love them, made everything that indicates their sex beautiful in women. But as she wished, on the contrary, to make women restrained, she made everything that announces man’s sex repellent, such as the beard, etc., thus arranging all things so that women could love for pleasure only what they had first loved out of duty. Moreover, the necessity of clothing themselves was imposed on them by the elements and by intelligence: for they understood that in nakedness there were places that were not beautiful. “You make him naked (they said to Prometheus”. What does it matter (he said) if I give him the ingenuity to clothe himself.” Thus nakedness is a sign of stupidity among savage peoples and of the depravity of their nature among civilized peoples.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1806 · Entry 4515
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.