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 II1812 · Entry 6370

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Facing Pages · Branch 2589 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6370

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5177

11 mai.

Avantage de la bonne compagnie et de la société des lettrés à Paris. Les idées médiocres s’y dépensent en conversation; on garde les exquises pour les écrire. A cet égard, la conversation écume l’esprit... La conversation à Paris fait bouillir l’esprit et l’écume. Ecumer son esprit, c’est épurer son goût.

Il y a, pour l’observateur et le connoisseur, des mots et des pensées remarquables partout, dans les conversations des sots, dans les écrits les plus médiocres, etc. Cela est en circulation comme les pièces d’or, dont tout le monde fait usage et dont personne ou presque personne ne remarque l’éclat, la valeur intrinsèque et la beauté.

On peut faire de ces monnoyes des bijoux; mais qui scaura les mettre en œuvre?

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5178

May 11.

Advantage of good company and the society of people of letters in Paris. Mediocre ideas are spent there in conversation; one keeps the exquisite ones to write them down. In this respect, conversation skims the mind... Conversation in Paris makes the mind boil and skims it. To skim one’s mind is to refine one’s taste.

For the observer and the connoisseur, there are remarkable sayings and thoughts everywhere, in the conversations of fools, in the most mediocre writings, etc. This circulates like gold coins, which everyone uses and whose brilliance, intrinsic value and beauty no one or almost no one notices.

One can make jewels from these coins; but who will know how to work them?

T154.The nominal advantage, contrast between spent and reserved ideas, and repeated skimming/boiling image remain. The phrase deliberately matches the earlier translation of the same image on page 717; no pot is added here.

T477.Three paragraphs remain under May 11. The literal words connoisseur, monnoyes and scaura remain. The capital A in A cet égard and E in Ecumer have no certified accents. The repeated conversation/Paris/skimming/boiling and the successive coin/jewel/work imagery remain. The first paragraph’s three-dot ellipsis, the contrast between everyone using the coins and no one or almost no one noticing their qualities, three listed values and final question are not simplified.

T155.The observer and connoisseur, universal availability and qualified no one remain. Gold coins and their three qualities retain the material analogy without naming an economic theory.

T156.The change from circulating coins to fashioned jewels and the question of skill remain. Work them renders mettre en œuvre in the context of making jewels, rather than introducing a new abstract application.

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.