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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French Page · Branch 1278 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5059
French
p. 255514 février.
Noblesse; dites mieux, notabilité : notabilité héréditaire. Et ne prenez pas une qualité politique pour une qualité morale, une institution pour un tempérament, une dignité enfin, un rang, pour une excellence naturelle, un rôle pour un personnage, un habit pour un homme, un masque pour un visage. On n’est pas plus éternellement noble qu’on n’est éternellement roi, éternellement juge, éternellement général. Ce qui est voulu et convenu s’annulle par la révocation. L’oubli détruit ce qui est fondé sur la mémoire. Il y a cependant une notabilité naturelle et naturellement héréditaire. Expliquer comment. (Vid. ce que j’ai dit sur le principe, 7bre 1803.)
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 2556February 14.
Nobility; say rather, notability: hereditary notability. And do not take a political quality for a moral quality, an institution for a temperament, a dignity, finally, a rank, for a natural excellence, a role for a person, a coat for a man, a mask for a face. One is no more eternally noble than one is eternally king, eternally judge, eternally general. What is willed and agreed upon is annulled by revocation. Forgetting destroys what is founded on memory. There is, however, a natural and naturally hereditary notability. Explain how. (See what I said about the principle, September 1803.)
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5059
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.