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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Facing Pages · Branch 1842 of 4529
YEAR 1808 · Entry 5623
French
p. 368315 mars.
Les Bibles, dans chaque nation, ont un empire légitime. Elles sont maîtresses des mœurs. Hors de là j’appelle tyrans dans la littérature tous ces auteurs prestigieux dont l’esprit empêche d’aimer aucun autre esprit que le leur. Magiciens malfaisans qui nous trompent par des plaisirs tantôt sombres, tantôt rians. Ils se rendent maîtres du monde non pas par leur intelligence, mais par la vapeur qu’ils répandent et qui voile tous les objets. Puissans en fascinations, leur venuë est un vrai fléau, mais un fléau qu’on célèbre, qu’on loue et dont leurs sectateurs se félicitent sur les débris et les ruines qu’ont causés leurs enchantemens et parmi le sang et les pleurs que leur puissance a fait répandre.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808
p. 3684March 15.
The Bibles, in each nation, have a legitimate empire. They are masters of morals. Beyond that I call tyrants in literature all those spellbinding authors whose mind prevents one from loving any mind other than their own. Maleficent magicians who deceive us with pleasures now dark, now smiling. They make themselves masters of the world not through their intelligence, but through the vapor they spread and that veils all objects. Powerful in fascinations, their coming is a true scourge, but a scourge that is celebrated, praised, and over which their followers congratulate themselves upon the wreckage and ruins their enchantments have caused, and amid the blood and tears their power has made to flow.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1808 · Entry 5623
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.