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 1765 of 4529
YEAR 1808 · Entry 5546
French
p. 3529Que la peinture est plus chrétienne, non seulement parce que […] culte est « intérieur » par l’édifice, mais aussi parce qu’il est intérieur par le sentiment. On n’aime point une statue. On se contente d’en détacher l’expression; mais on peut aimer un tableau. On peut l’emporter tout entier en soi. Ses traits, ses couleurs, ses dimensions peuvent se coller à l’esprit d’autant plus que tout y est surface. Sculptez le diable et peignez Dieu. La crainte aime à regarder son objet; elle veut l’avoir hors de soi! L’amour aime encore mieux embrasser le sien que de le voir. La crainte a toujours les yeux ouverts, l’amour aime à fermer les siens.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808
p. 3530That painting is more Christian, not only because […] worship is “inward” through the building, but also because it is inward through feeling. One does not love a statue. One is content to detach its expression from it; but one can love a painting. One can carry it whole within oneself. Its features, its colors, its dimensions can stick to the mind all the more because everything in it is surface. Sculpt the devil and paint God. Fear likes to look at its object; it wants to have it outside itself! Love likes embracing its own still more than seeing it. Fear always has its eyes open, love likes to close its own.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1808 · Entry 5546
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.