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 1247 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5028
French
p. 2493Et remarquez que cela est meilleur pour l’imagination et pour le bonheur, mais non pas pour les usages de la vie et de la société, car si on veut bâtir la boue vaut mieux que l’eau claire, si on a semé la vapeur vaut mieux que l’air pur, si on veut briller enfin l’éclat vaut mieux que la lumière.
A la vérité, pour la vie simple cela est autrement. Car boire est plus agréable et plus nécessaire que bâtir, respirer plus nécessaire que moissonner, voir enfin et être éclairé plus nécessaire et plus agréable aussi qu’être ébloui.
S’il arrivoit donc que ceux qui bâtissent troublassent les rivières et les fontaines, que ceux qui brillent altérassent toute clarté et que ceux qui labourent et qui sèment remplissent l’air de brouillards épais, il faudroit suspendre les arts. Et nous les suspendons innocemment, c’est à dire, sans leur nuire et sans nous nuire à nous même quand nous voulons les restreindre dans leurs limites et leur ôter cet excès d’audace qu’ils tiennent de leur puissance et cet excès de puissance qu’ils tiennent de l’opinion.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 2494And observe that this is better for imagination and happiness, but not for the uses of life and society, for if one wishes to build, mud is better than clear water; if one has sown, vapor is better than pure air; if one wishes to shine, finally, radiance is better than light.
In truth, for simple life it is otherwise. For drinking is more pleasant and more necessary than building, breathing more necessary than harvesting, seeing, finally, and being illuminated more necessary and also more pleasant than being dazzled.
If, then, it happened that those who build muddied the rivers and fountains, that those who shine impaired all clarity, and that those who plow and sow filled the air with thick fogs, the arts would have to be suspended. And we suspend them innocently, that is, without harming them or ourselves, when we wish to restrain them within their limits and take from them that excess of audacity they derive from their power, and that excess of power they derive from opinion.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5028
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.