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 1814 · Entry 7064

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English Page · Branch 3283 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7064

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6565

Ces Grecs et ces Romains, grands personnages en effet. Mais en admirant leurs actions et leurs paroles, leurs gestes et leurs attitudes, n’envions pas leur sort, n’aspirons pas à nous faire une histoire qui nous rende semblables à eux. Traitons les comme ces acteurs dont on aime le jeu, mais dont on n’aime pas le métier.

Scavez vous ce que vous désirez à votre inscu dans l’établissement d’un corps législatif! Vous y désirez un théâtre et vous voulez vous faire acteur.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6566

Those Greeks and those Romans, great personages indeed. But in admiring their actions and their words, their gestures and their attitudes, let us not envy their lot, let us not aspire to make ourselves a history that makes us resemble them. Let us treat them like those actors whose performance we love, but whose profession we do not love.

Do you know what you desire without knowing it in the establishment of a legislative body! You desire a theater there and you want to make yourself an actor.

T237.The nominal opening, four admired objects, two negative exhortations and the repeated love remain. Make ourselves a history preserves the unusual self-authorship image. Performance and profession retain the theatrical distinction without adding a political example.

T537.The two paragraphs remain distinct. All four leurs possessors, both exhortative negatives and the final n’aime pas remain; Traitons les is spaced. Scavez vous and inscu retain their printed c spellings without supplied hyphens. The mark after législatif has a substantial vertical stroke and a separate low point, supporting the reproduced exclamation mark rather than a question mark; adjacent thin traces are not additional punctuation. The ending stays on page 790. No authorial intention is inferred from the mark.

T238.The separate paragraph keeps the direct address and the exclamation after the interrogative construction. Legislative body, theater and actor remain linked. The unconscious desire is not replaced with a claim of deliberate deception.

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.