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 1830 of 4529
YEAR 1808 · Entry 5611
French
p. 3659Un meuble peut être d’une jolie forme et d’un mauvais goût, comme on dit. Il est d’une jolie forme quand le dessin plaît à l’œil. Il est de mauvais goût quand il n’annonce pas d’abord ou qu’il ne promet pas à la réflexion l’espèce de commodité pour laquelle il doit être fait. Ils ne flattent pas l’espérance. Tels sont ces gros lits d’acajou qui ont l’air si lourds et si massifs qu’ils excluent inévitablement toute idée de mollesse et d’aise et par conséquent de repos. Ils n’invitent ni au coucher ni au dormir.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808
p. 3660A piece of furniture can have a pretty form and be in bad taste, as they say. It has a pretty form when the design pleases the eye. It is in bad taste when it does not immediately announce, or does not promise on reflection, the kind of convenience for which it ought to be made. They do not flatter expectation. Such are those great mahogany beds that look so heavy and so massive that they inevitably exclude all idea of softness and ease and consequently of rest. They invite neither lying down nor sleeping.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1808 · Entry 5611
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.