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 IIAccording to Plato · Entry 6690

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Facing Pages · Branch 2909 of 4529

According to Plato · Entry 6690

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 5817

[…]9 août.

« Il n’y a, disoit-il, de toujours vrai que ce qui est toujours le […]ême, ni de toujours beau que ce qui étant beau est toujours semblable à soi. On n’est donc heureux que par la connoissance et la contemplation de ce qui est immuable. » Tout cela est bon, mais cela ne dit rien au cœur. Il eût [cu] mille fois plutôt fait de dire : « Il n’y a de bonheur que dans une âme bien réglée ». Il y a donc des plaisirs ennemis du bonheur, et peut être aussi des sciences, quoiqu […] ait dit en son nom : Sunt autem in hac mixtione scintiæ omnes adhibendæ... voluptates contra non admitti omnes possunt (Vid. in Phileb.)

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: According to Plato

p. 5818

August […]9.

“Only what is always the [same], he said, is always true, and only what, being beautiful, is always like itself is always beautiful. One is therefore happy only through the knowledge and contemplation of what is immutable.” All this is good, but it says nothing to the heart. It would have been a thousand times quicker for him to say: “There is happiness only in a well-ordered soul.” There are therefore pleasures that are enemies of happiness, and perhaps sciences too, although […] said in his name: But in this mixture all kinds of knowledge are to be employed... pleasures, on the contrary, cannot all be admitted (See in Philebus.)

T197.The two bounded quotations, repeated always, unnamed speaker and polemical thousand times remain. [Same] contextually interprets même from […]ême. The qualified printed source-editor bracket reads [cu], rather than a silently corrected [eu]. The idiomatic English would have been quicker interprets the auxiliary construction contextually as eût eu … fait; that restructuring does not give the bracket a naturally separable English word. The French retains [cu]. The later bracketed ellipsis is already printed; its subject remains unfilled. The Latin receives a fresh translation with its omitted span retained: kinds of knowledge contextually interprets the literal scintiæ, without adding the absent e to French. Compare Philebus 62c–64b, where all kinds of knowledge but selected pleasures enter the mixed life. That Greek parallel neither identifies the Latin intermediary nor recovers the omitted text. Only terminal 9 survives in the August day. This single paragraph continues onto page 754. Said renders the imperfect citation attribution without asserting repeated occasions of speaking.

T586.The complete terminal 9 survives, with preceding day traces insufficient for another digit. The damaged m before ême is not supplied. The paragraph continues across page 754 as one unit. In the printed bracket [cu], the first glyph has an open c-like contour without a certified e crossbar; retain this qualified literal reading rather than emend it from grammar. The later bracketed ellipsis is printed and separate from the reproduction losses. Quoiqu has no certifiable apostrophe before that bracket. The native Latin reads scintiæ, without an e between i and n; no scientiæ correction is imposed. The first e of ennemis is identifiable beneath extraneous horizontal artifacts. Peut être is unhyphenated. The Latin is italic through possunt; the parenthetic reference is roman.

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.