Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

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 5262

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Facing Pages · Branch 1481 of 4529

YEAR 1807 · Entry 5262

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 2961

22 avril.

... aura allumé les chandelles. En effet, chacun porte en soi (comme autant de flambeaux) des idées qui l’éclairent. Petita ab alio flamma. D’autres allument souvent ces chandelles — quelquefois elles s’allument d’elles mêmes. Ce qui est certain, c’est que nous ne recevons aucune clarté que d’elles seules; lorsqu’elles manquent, on a beau battre des briquets.

Chacun (donc) ne peut voir qu’à sa lampe; mais il peut marcher ou agir à la lumière d’autrui.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1807

p. 2962

April 22.

... will have lit the candles. Indeed, each person carries within himself (like so many torches) ideas that light his way. A flame sought from another. Others often light these candles — sometimes they light themselves. What is certain is that we receive no light except from them alone; when they are lacking, striking fire steels is in vain.

Each person (then) can see only by his own lamp; but he can walk or act by another’s light.

T10.The opening will have lit is a future-perfect fragment without a supplied subject. A flame sought from another translates Petita ab alio flamma; another is the sense of alio, not on high. The exact external quotation is not identified here. Striking fire steels conveys battre des briquets in the lighting image. The Académie’s 1798 Briquet entry (I, p. 174) describes the small steel struck against stone to produce fire.

T195.The opening ellipsis and subjectless finite future-perfect fragment are retained. The Latin is a separate italic phrase within the same physical paragraph. D’elles mêmes has no hyphen.

T11.The second physical paragraph remains distinct. Seeing by one’s own lamp and walking or acting by another’s light retain different activities rather than being reconciled as a single kind of guidance.

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.