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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Facing Pages · Branch 549 of 4529
YEAR 1805 · Entry 4330
French
p. 1097Une belle expression est toujours la portion d’une vérité (apperçue ou non apperçue). C’est un échantillon de son étoffe, un trait de sa lumière qui nous a lui et nous a fui. — Si nous appliquons mal ce trait, si nous promenons ce rayon séparé de son faisceau propre, si nous étalons ce morceau (coupon a trop d’ampleur) loin de sa pièce, il reste beau, mais ne produit aucun effet. Ajouter : quand cet échantillon est perdu parmi des guenilles, il faut scavoir l’en distinguer et l’en retirer.
Un échantillon de sa robe, ou un échantillon de l’étoffe dont elle est propre à être vêtue.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1805
p. 1098A beautiful expression is always a portion of a truth (perceived or unperceived). It is a sample of its fabric, a shaft of its light that has shone on us and fled from us. — If we misapply this shaft, if we carry this ray about apart from its own beam, if we display this piece (remnant is too ample) far from its length of cloth, it remains beautiful but produces no effect. Add: when this sample is lost among rags, one must know how to distinguish it from them and draw it out.
A sample of her dress, or a sample of the fabric in which she is fit to be clothed.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1805 · Entry 4330
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.