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 173 of 4529
YEAR 1805 · Entry 3954
French
p. 34522 février.
De tels vers qu’on croit rapides ne sont réellement propres qu’à peindre l’effort ou une espèce de frottement comme celui des rats.
Mettent le nez à l’air, montrent un peu la tête... (Etc. voyez la suite.)Partez, courez, volez...
Il y a là plus de remuement que de mouvement, de progrès. Il faut que le vers sérieux avance à grands pas et non en piétinant. Il doit donner à la rapidité, quand il veut la peindre, la démarche des dieux d’Homère : « il fait un pas et il arrive... » Les vers où il y a tant de sections ressemblent aux insectes qui ont mille pieds ou des jambes dont les articulations sont multipliées. Il y a là quelque chose qui est petit, qui va par sauts et à reprises. Il n’y a point de rapidité.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805
p. 346February 22.
Such lines, which one believes rapid, are really suited only to depicting effort or a kind of rubbing like that of rats.
[They] put their noses into the air, show their heads a little... (Etc. see what follows.)
Depart, run, fly...
There is more stirring here than movement, than progress. Serious verse must advance with great strides, not by stamping its feet. When it wishes to depict rapidity, it must give it the gait of Homer’s gods: “he takes a step and arrives...” Lines with so many sections resemble insects with a thousand feet or legs with multiplied joints. There is something small here, something that proceeds by leaps and in fits. There is no rapidity.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1805 · Entry 3954
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.