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 1454 of 4529
YEAR 1807 · Entry 5235
French
p. 2907J.-J. Rousseau, dans sa manière d’envisager la morale, auroit pu la définir « l’art d’augmenter les passions avec utilité ». Et il y auroit eu là deux erreurs capitales. Premièrement quant à l’utilité; car il ne peut y en avoir à augmenter les passions, c’est à dire à donner aux hommes plus de passions que la nature, ou des passions plus grandes qu’eux. Secondement quant aux attributions; il peut être utile de diriger les passions dans l’homme en les exerçant ou, pour parler plus clairement, de dresser et d’habituer les passions à conserver quelque droiture, quelque ordre, quelque bienséance, quelque beauté, non seulement dans leurs opérations ou leurs œuvres, mais dans leurs moindres mouvemens. Mais attribuer un pareil soin à la morale, c’est tout confondre : il regarde la poésie. La morale n’est faite que pour réprimer, pour contenir. Elle est règle, règle immobile et immuable, et par cela même elle est barrière. Elle est frein, et non éguillon.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807
p. 2908J.-J. Rousseau, in his way of looking at morality, could have defined it as “the art of usefully increasing the passions.” And there would have been two fundamental errors in that. First as to usefulness; for there can be none in increasing the passions, that is, in giving men more passions than nature does, or passions greater than themselves. Second as to the respective functions; it may be useful to direct the passions in man by exercising them or, to speak more clearly, to train and accustom the passions to preserve some rectitude, some order, some propriety, some beauty, not only in their operations or their works but in their slightest movements. But to assign such a care to morality is to confuse everything: it concerns poetry. Morality is made only to repress, to contain. It is a rule, an immobile and immutable rule, and by that very fact it is a barrier. It is a bridle, not a goad.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1807 · Entry 5235
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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.