Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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French Page · Branch 444 of 4529
YEAR 1805 · Entry 4225
French
p. 887Les bons mouvemens ne sont rien s’ils ne deviennent de bonnes actions. Dans la vie morale, pour avoir du plaisir, il faut se proposer un but et y atteindre. Or, tout ce qui est but est une borne. Non seulement il n’y a pas de vertu où il n’y a pas de loi et de règle, mais il n’y a pas même de plaisir. Les jeux des enfans eux même[s] ont des loix et n’existeroient pas sans elles. Ces règles sont toujours gênantes; et plus on les observe strictement, plus on s’amuse. Qui vit sans but et, comme on dit, à l’aventure vit tristement.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805
p. 888Good impulses are nothing if they do not become good actions. In the moral life, to have pleasure, one must set oneself a goal and reach it. Now, everything that is a goal is a limit. Not only is there no virtue where there is no law and rule, there is not even pleasure. Even children’s games have laws and would not exist without them. These rules are always constraining; and the more strictly one observes them, the more one enjoys oneself. Whoever lives without a goal and, as they say, at random, lives sadly.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1805 · Entry 4225
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.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.