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 6466

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French Page · Branch 2685 of 4529

1812 · Entry 6466

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5369

L’esprit sert d’instrument, sert d’organe, sert d’enveloppe et de […]orps en quelque manière aux intelligences célestes. Il y a le corps, […]’esprit et l’âme pour les hommes. L’orgueil, disent-ils, perdit les […]nges : c’est qu’ils étoient sujets aux égaremens de l’esprit. L’esprit de ceux qui résistèrent à l’épreuve perdit pour récompense la liberté […]e s’égarer. Ils n’eurent plus ce funeste pouvoir. Heureux retranchement.

Ils ont au moins pour corps un peu d’espace découpé, ce qui leur […]onne une figure.

L’esprit est en eux comme en nous un peu d’espace intelligible où peuvent se former et se loger et se mouvoir et se combiner des images, des idées, des jugemens, etc.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: 1812

p. 5370

The mind serves as an instrument, serves as an organ, serves as an envelope and, in some way, a [body] for the celestial intelligences. For men there are body, mind and soul. Pride, they say, ruined the [angels]: that is because they were subject to the mind’s wanderings. The mind of those who withstood the test lost as a reward the freedom [to] go astray. They no longer had this fatal power. Happy curtailment.

They have at least for a body a little space cut out, which [gives] them a figure.

The mind is in them, as in us, a little intelligible space where images, ideas, judgments, etc. can form and lodge and move and combine.

T283.The repeated serves, four roles, three human constituents and reported pride claim remain. The loss is expressly a reward, with the paradoxical final nominal approval intact. The unexpressed reporters are not identified; the three terms body/mind/soul are not collapsed. [Body], [angels] and [to] render contextual corps, anges and de. The missing article l before intact esprit has no separate English counterpart in the list body, mind and soul; mind stays outside brackets.

T284.The at least qualification, body and cut-out space remain, without inventing a geometric shape or physical material. [Gives] renders contextual donne from […]onne; the lost initial d is not certified.

T285.The them/us comparison, four coordinated activities and three mental contents remain. The repeated and preserves the deliberate sequence rather than collapsing the faculties into one.

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.