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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 1807 · Entry 5210

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French Page · Branch 1429 of 4529

YEAR 1807 · Entry 5210

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 2857

Les mots, lorsqu’ils sont bien choisis, sont des abrégés de phrase.

Les mots sont les corps et le lieu extérieur des pensées.

Les mots sont des lieux transparens ou des miroirs et les seu[…] où soient visibles nos pensées. Importance des mots — ou — D[…] l’importance des pensées.

Ce n’est pas tant le son que le sens des mots qui tient si souven[…] en suspends la plume des bons écrivains. Rien n’est plus propre […] faire bien sentir le prix et l’importance des mots que ce que j’avo[…] dit d’abord; je le répète : lorsque les mots sont bien choisis, ils son[…] des abrégés de phrases. L’abrégé d’une phrase. Dites l’abrégé de beaucoup de phrases ou, pour mieux dire, la valeur. Des mots amis de l[…] mémoire, et de ceux qui ne le sont pas. C’est à choisir les premier[…] et à rejeter les seconds que l’habile écrivain s’attache. Écrire pou[…] la mémoire. De ceux qui écrivent pour l’oubli.

Il y a quelque chose de pire que l’oubli pour les auteurs, c’est l[…] souvenir de leurs fautes imprimé par leurs soins dans la mémoir[…] des lecteurs.

La plupart mettent leurs soins à écrire de telle sorte qu’on puiss[…] les lire sans obstacle ou sans difficulté, et qu’on ne puisse en aucun[…] manière se souvenir de ce qu’ils ont dit : ils sont prolixes. La périod[…] de Dt et de Pt est propre et commode à ce dessein ou à cet effet. Elle amuse la voix, l’oreille, l’attention même et ne laisse rien aprè[…] elle. Elle a flatté et a passé, comme un son qui sort d’un papier, — d’un papier qu’on a feuilleté.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807

p. 2858

Words, when well chosen, are abridgments of a sentence.

Words are the bodies and the outward place of thoughts.

Words are transparent places or mirrors, and the [only ones] in which our thoughts are visible. The importance of words — or — [Of] the importance of thoughts.

It is not so much the sound as the sense of words that so [often] holds good writers’ pens in suspense. Nothing is more apt [to] make the worth and importance of words keenly felt than what I [had] said at first; I repeat it: when words are well chosen, they [are] abridgments of sentences. The abridgment of a sentence. Say the abridgment of many sentences or, to put it better, their worth. Of words friendly to [the] memory, and of those that are not. It is to choosing the [first] and rejecting the second that the skillful writer applies himself. To write [for] memory. Of those who write for oblivion.

There is something worse than oblivion for authors: [the] memory of their faults imprinted by their own efforts in the [memory] of readers.

Most take care to write in such a way that one [can] read them without obstacle or without difficulty, and cannot in [any] way remember what they have said: they are prolix. The [period] of Dt and Pt is suited and convenient to this design or this effect. It amuses the voice, the ear, even attention, and leaves nothing [after] it. It has flattered and passed, like a sound that comes from a sheet of paper, — from a sheet of paper one has leafed through.

T3.The condition and singular a sentence preserve the first formulation’s phrase, distinct from plural phrases later in this same unit. Abridgments keeps the compression image without reducing it to a definition.

T22.Six independently indented paragraphs remain in one starred unit. The first has singular phrase, while the fourth paragraph’s related statement has plural phrases. All source prose is roman at the displayed level; no phrase is made italic from rhetorical importance. The first three Les mots openings are separate paragraphs. In paragraph 3 the rightmost ending after seu and the component after a recognizable capital D remain uncertified under the blur; seuls and De are contextual possibilities, not recovered text. Both substantial dashes remain. Transparens has no supplied t. Paragraph 4 retains all nominal subphrases inside its one paragraph. The right-edge traces do not certify the endings after souven, j’avo, son, l, premier and pou. A separate obscured slot after propre is marked without certifying à. These are reproduction qualifications, not grammatical repairs. The main-line suspends retains its visible d; the later phrases/phrase distinction and all repeated mots/mémoire relations remain. The word beaucoup spans an ordinary line wrap with its two parts intact. Paragraph 5 retains the c’est construction with the following incomplete l-component and the obscured ending of mémoir; no article or e is recovered from grammar. The subordinate relative relation implied by the previous paragraph is not supplied here. Paragraph 6 keeps both sans alternatives, the negative memory clause, the colon, prolixes, repeated papier and the separate substantial dash. Right-edge endings after puiss, aucun, périod and aprè remain unresolved. The compact designations provisionally read baseline Dt and Pt, with t-like shapes at the ordinary baseline; no name expansion or elevation is certified. The complete effet ending is retained at a qualified level. The source page is horizontally doubled and blur is worse toward the right gutter. Full-page and original-size crops support the readable central text. The independent structural reviewer has now read the complete page and the bounded right-edge/code crops, agreeing with these conservative limits and qualified compact forms; no missing endings are recovered.

T4.The plural bodies and singular outward place remain beside plural thoughts. The singular/plural mixture is not regularized, and the corporeal image is not replaced by a generic means of communication.

T5.The places/mirrors alternative, visibility relation and two importance fragments remain. The English [only ones] and [Of] contextually read incomplete seu[…] and D[…], without restoring French endings. The distinction between words and thoughts is preserved rather than correcting either noun.

T6.All sound/sense, worth/importance and memory/oblivion distinctions remain. The initial imperfect auxiliary is read contextually as avois, giving the prior saying its past-perfect relation. Other English brackets mark contextual readings of souven[…], the whole slot after propre, son[…], l[…], premier[…] and pou[…]; no French endings are restored. The changing singular/plural sentence formulations and the self-correction to value remain. Of words takes the fragment’s opening Des with the following et de ceux relation, without a finite predicate. Their is ordinary English grammar for the value of the several sentences, not a recovered French possessive.

T7.The worse-than comparison and the agency of authors’ own care remain. The colon gives the identifying force of c’est in English. [The] and [memory] contextually render incomplete l[…] and mémoir[…], leaving their French losses unchanged.

T8.Both without alternatives, the negative memory consequence, explicit prolixity and design/effect alternative remain. [Can], [any], [period] and [after] contextually read the incomplete words puiss[…], aucun[…], périod[…] and aprè[…]. Period is the rhetorical sentence structure, not a span of time. Dt and Pt remain opaque and provisionally at baseline; no names are supplied. The three amused faculties, present leaves and perfect has-flattered/has-passed sequence remain. Repeated paper and the final page-turning sound retain their material oddness without replacing it with an invented musical instrument.

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.