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.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IITheory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered… · Entry 4546

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Theory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered… · Entry 4546

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 1529

Chacun trouve son odeur bonne traduiroit avec ménagement le proverbe beaucoup trop grossier des Latins (stercus suum euque bene olet). Chacun se sent bon à soi même vaudroit mieux. Cette dernière manière de s’exprimer fait même entendre un sens moral qui n’est pas dans la première, et remédie singulièrement par là à ce que le fonds de l’idée porte avec soi de plus choquant. Quoi qu’il en soit, il est impossible, avec un peu de bon goût, d’entendre ou de prononcer aucune de ces phrazes sans quelque aversion, c’est à dire sans détourner promptement son esprit de cette pensée; la matière en est essentiellement désagréable.

— Comme un fumier qui est consommé etc. et l’idée d’étables et d’agriculture s’unissant à ce dernier mot (fumier) en détruit et consomme elle même par d’agréables accessoires tout ce que le sujet auroit de rebutant. Et, à ce propos, Nota. De l’empire des accessoires — ou — Du pouvoir des ingrédiens.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: Theory of the Political World, or On the Science of Government Considered…

p. 1530

Everyone finds their own smell good would translate with restraint the far too coarse proverb of the Latins (one’s own dung smells good [to each person?]). Everyone smells good to themselves would be better. This last way of expressing oneself even suggests a moral sense that is absent from the first, and thereby does much to remedy what is most shocking in the substance of the idea. Be that as it may, with a little good taste, it is impossible to hear or utter any of these phrases without some aversion, that is, without promptly turning one’s mind away from this thought; its matter is essentially unpleasant.

— Like manure that has rotted down, etc., and the idea of stables and agriculture, joining itself to this last word (manure), itself destroys and consumes, through pleasing accessories, all that would be repellent in the subject. And, on this subject, Note. On the dominion of accessories — or — On the power of ingredients.

T92.The French page prints stercus suum euque bene olet. Montaigne, Essais III.8, provides the parallel Stercus cuique suum bene olet. This supports cuique, to each person, as a possible interpretation of the anomalous euque, without proving Joubert’s immediate source or authorizing a silent correction. The English [to each person?] marks this translator’s conjecture; the Latin remains unchanged in the French paragraph.

T93.Finds their own smell good and smells good to themselves preserve Joubert’s two formulations. The second allows a moral reading of good, which he explicitly values. Turning the mind away explains aversion in the source; it is not an instruction from the translator.

T94.Rotted down renders consommé in its agricultural use for thoroughly decomposed manure, recorded in Trévoux’s 1771 Fumier entry and the Encyclopédie méthodique’s agricultural article. The later destroys and consumes remains an action attributed to the associated idea of stables and agriculture. Accessories and ingredients preserve Joubert’s two alternative formulations; Note translates his own Latin Nota.

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.