Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

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 5958

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French Page · Branch 2177 of 4529

YEAR 1809 · Entry 5958

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4353

[…] septembre.

Sensibilité. Vient des sens. C’est une qualité physique. On a de la […]nsibilité et une sensibilité extrême quand on a des sens faciles à […]mouvoir. On est bon, tendre, aimant, compatissant, par l’âme seule. On est sensible aux mauvais traitemens, on est touché des bons. « Je […]uis sensible à ce que vous avez bien voulu faire pour moi » est du […]tyle familier, épistolaire. Si on disoit dans le style noble que Titus étoit sensible ou que Cyrus se montra sensible au bon accueil que […]ui fit Cambyse, cela seroit ridicule. Quand on dit ou qu’on écrit qu’un […]oète n’a pas de sensibilité, on parle et on écrit mal. Le style litté[…]aire exige plus d’exactitude dans les dénominations. Dites qu’il n’a pas de pathétique, de gracieux, etc.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1809

p. 4354

September […].

Sensibility. Comes from the senses. It is a physical quality. One has […]nsibilité and extreme sensibility when one has senses easy to […]mouvoir. One is good, tender, loving, compassionate through the soul alone. One is sensitive to bad treatment, one is touched by good. “I […]uis sensitive to what you have been so kind as to do for me” belongs to familiar, epistolary […]tyle. If in noble style one said that Titus was sensitive or that Cyrus showed himself sensitive to the kind reception Cambyses gave […]ui, it would be ridiculous. When one says or writes that a […]oète has no sensibility, one speaks and writes badly. Litté[…]aire style demands greater exactitude in designations. Say that they have no pathos, no grace, etc.

T98.Sensibility and sensitive retain the shared lexical field in this discussion of physical feeling and moral qualities. Touched is distinct from sensitive. The source’s damaged […]nsibilité, […]mouvoir, […]uis, […]tyle, […]ui, […]oète, and litté[…]aire remain French residues in English. Likely completions are sensibilité, sensibility; émouvoir, move; suis, am; style, style; lui, him; poète, poet; and littéraire, literary. None is certified as fully recovered. The quotation translates the French courtesy formula under discussion without replacing it with a different English formula. The noble-style examples remain hypothetical. Pathos and grace render pathétique and gracieux; no poem or ancient narrative is identified. Easy to preserves the intact faciles à construction; singular they in the final command leaves the hypothetical poet unspecified.

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.