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 4511 of 4529
UNDATED · Entry 8292
French
p. 902152 (Liasse 39.)
Le style de cet homme (dit-on) n’est pas naturel. J’ajouterai : ni ses pensées non plus ne le sont pas. Je veux dire que lorsqu’il pense, ce n’est pas naturellement ou par une propriété que la nature ait donnée à ses organes. Mais il pense par effort, par artifice, par travail. Il force son cerveau à une opération qui ne s’y fait pas par la disposition naturelle où il se trouve ou par une modification qui lui vient de l’impression que quelque objet a faite sur lui, mais par une sorte de mécanisme exercé par sa substance par celui qui le possède. Ce cerveau n’est rendu actif que par la volonté. Aussi, comme il n’a rien reçu, il ne rend rien. Il a le jeu de la pensée, mais n’en a pas la production. On sent l’effort, le travail, le soin, et tout excepté le talent. On entend agir le métier, mais ce métier agit à vuide.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: UNDATED
p. 902252 (Bundle 39.)
This man’s style (they say) is not natural. I shall add: neither are his thoughts. I mean that when he thinks, it is not naturally or through a property nature gave his organs. But he thinks through effort, through artifice, through work. He forces his brain to perform an operation that does not take place in it through the natural disposition in which it finds itself, or through a modification arising from the impression some object has made on it, but through a kind of mechanism exercised by its substance by the one who possesses it. This brain is made active only by will. Thus, since it has received nothing, it gives back nothing. It has the play of thought, but not its production. One feels effort, work, care, and everything except talent. One hears the loom at work, but this loom works empty.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · UNDATED · Entry 8292
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.