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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 1809 · Entry 5911

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French Page · Branch 2130 of 4529

YEAR 1809 · Entry 5911

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4259

[…]4 avril.

1. Dieu qui peut tout faire par un acte simple de sa volonté a voulu […]ependant se servir d’Agens intermédiaires afin que les hommes […]uissent concevoir ses opérations d’une manière conforme à la vérité.

2. Ce seroit en effet un sentiment angélique et bien digne de tels esprits, qui nous porteroit à secourir au moment du danger celui là même dont nous serions assurés qu’il devroit périr. Et d’ailleurs il ne s’agit pas ici seulement d’Eudore mais du Christianisme tout entier.

3. Il y a mille occasions où le ciel ne veut pas que nous soyons arrêtés par la foy ou par l’évidence. C’est ainsi que le fils pleureroit son père quand même il lui seroit révélé qu’il est un saint. On me dira qu’alors c’est lui même qu’il pleureroit. Mais on se secourt aussi soi même par des mouvemens inutiles pour secourir les autres. On se délivre des tourmens de l’inaction des forces pendant les mouvemens du cœur. Ainsi je dois me réjouir de mon père heureux, mais je puis m’affliger de mon père absent. La foi doit captiver nos mauvaises inclinations, mais non pas supprimer nos mouvemens louables, etc.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1809

p. 4260

April […]4.

1. God, who can do everything by a simple act of his will, has […]ependant wished to make use of intermediary Agents so that men […]uissent conceive his operations in a manner conformable to the truth.

2. It would indeed be an angelic feeling, and quite worthy of such spirits, that would move us to help in the moment of danger the very person we were certain must perish. And besides, it is not only Eudore who is at issue here but Christianity as a whole.

3. There are a thousand occasions when heaven does not wish us to be stopped by faith or by self-evidence. Thus a son would weep for his father even if it were revealed to him that his father is a saint. One will tell me that then it is for himself that he would be weeping. But one also helps oneself by movements useless for helping others. One frees oneself from the torments of the powers’ inaction during the movements of the heart. Thus I must rejoice that my father is happy, but I may grieve that my father is absent. Faith must hold our bad inclinations captive, but must not suppress our praiseworthy movements, etc.

S1.Source editor’s annotationThis piece is found on a separate, dated sheet. In the notebook there is only a sketch of it.

S2.Source editor’s annotationThis paragraph, identical in the notebook.

T42.The numbered paragraph keeps the capital Agents and distinguishes divine ability from divine choice. The French residues […]ependant and […]uissent remain in English: cependant, nevertheless, and puissent, may, are contextual possibilities, not recovered print. The purpose clause and manner conformable to truth remain without completing the damaged words.

T45.Beaunier’s annotation distinguishes two witnesses: the dated separate sheet and the notebook sketch. It does not establish a recovered day in the damaged date heading. The annotation remains attached to the date, separate from the three numbered main paragraphs.

T46.The source apparatus is a nominal statement without an added finite verb. It compares the first numbered paragraph with the notebook.

T230.Three numbered physical paragraphs remain within one dated unit. Only final 4 is secure in the damaged day. Raised calls 1–4 remain separately owned: the date, vérité in paragraph 1, entier in paragraph 2, and l’évidence in paragraph 3. Paragraph 1 loses complete opening portions before ependant and uissent: cependant and puissent are contextual possibilities, not recovered as fact. Agens keeps its capital. In paragraphs 2–3, the left-margin words esprits, même, ne, entier, arrêtés, son, dira, soi, se, the line-broken mouvemens and mauvaises, puis and etc. are partly clipped or crossed by damage; the retained complete readings are qualified from their surviving letter traces. Celui là, lui même and soi même remain unhyphenated. Foy in the first sentence and foi near the end retain their different spellings. Christianisme keeps its capital.

T232.The nominal apparatus sentence is retained without an added verb.

S3.Source editor’s annotationIn the notebook, this paragraph is headed: “The Angels.” Then: “... angelic in men, which would move them to help the very person of whom... whole.”

T43.The conditional feeling and action remain; must perish expresses the assured fate in devroit périr rather than an obligation imposed on the sufferer. The second sentence widens the issue from Eudore to Christianity as a whole. Chateaubriand’s Examen des Martyrs has a related defense of angels consoling Eudore despite divine determination; the checked 1861 transcription is a later contextual witness, not an established 1809 source copy or a license to restore gaps.

T47.The Angels belongs to Beaunier’s report of the notebook version, not a heading inserted over the main paragraph. The excerpt’s two ellipses and isolated final whole remain. Them follows the variant les and differs from us in the main version; the damaged excerpt is not expanded from the latter.

S4.Source editor’s annotationNotebook: “...that faith and even self-evidence stop us.” That is all, for the notebook.

T44.English repeats his father to clarify the antecedent of the source’s he is a saint. The following himself refers to the grieving son. The paragraph distinguishes helping others from helping oneself, and the inactivity of one’s powers from movements of the heart. Rejoicing in the father happy and grieving for the father absent become parallel English that clauses. Hold captive preserves captiver; the repeated movements and closing etc. remain. No consolatory conclusion is added. Self-evidence renders évidence as truth immediately apparent to the mind, in the sense recorded by the Académie in 1798; it does not name a particular philosophical system.

T48.The final source comparison preserves its opening ellipsis and stops where Beaunier stops. English cannot visibly reproduce the French singular arrête after the coordinated subject faith and self-evidence. Even qualifies self-evidence here; the source’s manner of abridging the notebook is not expanded into the full main paragraph. Self-evidence renders évidence as truth immediately apparent to the mind, in the sense recorded by the Académie in 1798; it does not name a particular philosophical system.

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.