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 7068

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Facing Pages · Branch 3287 of 4529

YEAR 1814 · Entry 7068

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 6573

La saincteté. Il faut bien que la saincteté existe quelque part. Pour qu’elle existe, il est requis qu’il y ait quelques lieux écartés.

Car il faut qu’il y ait des foyers; cela seul conserve les feux.

Si quelque piété n’est portée à son dernier terme et pour ainsi dire à l’excès, il y aura peu de piétés. Et ainsi des autres vertus.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814

p. 6574

Holiness. Holiness must indeed exist somewhere. For it to exist, there must be some secluded places.

For there must be hearths; that alone preserves the fires.

If some piety is not carried to its furthest limit and, so to speak, to excess, there will be few pieties. And so with the other virtues.

T242.The nominal opening, repeated holiness, indeed and somewhere remain. Secluded places is not narrowed to a particular religious institution.

T541.All three paragraphs remain distinct. Both saincteté spellings retain c; the repeated necessity, seul and the hearth/fire image remain. The subsequently available color witness confirms the complete q of qu’elle and the lower à, distinguishing foreground text from reverse-side show-through; the earlier initial-q query is closed without a body change. The French conditional ne construction has no added pas, singular piété changes to plural piétés, and the final Et ainsi fragment is not completed.

T243.The separate paragraph, causal opening, necessity and alone restriction remain. Hearths keeps the material fire image of foyers without identifying actual buildings.

T244.The negative condition, furthest limit, qualified excess and final extension remain. The unusual plural pieties preserves the source’s shift from singular piété to plural piétés, without supplying a count of people or institutions.

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.