Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
Intimate Journals
Flares and My Heart Laid Bare · French with an independent English translation.
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French Page · Branch 98 of 118
My Heart Laid Bare · Mon cœur mis à nu · XCVII
French
p. 195Le commerce est, par son essence, satanique. Le commerce, c’est le prêté-rendu, c’est le prêt avec le sous-entendu : Rends-moi plus que je ne te donne.
L’esprit de tout commerçant est complètement vicié.
Le commerce est naturel, donc il est infâme.
Le moins infâme de tous les commerçants, c’est celui qui dit : « Soyons vertueux pour gagner beaucoup plus d’argent que les sots qui sont vicieux. »
Pour le commerçant, l’honnêteté elle-même est une spéculation de lucre.
Le commerce est satanique, parce qu’il est une des formes de l’égoïsme, et la plus basse, et la plus vile.
Intimate Journals: My Heart Laid Bare
p. 196Commerce is, by its very nature, satanic. Commerce means lending and repayment, lending with the unspoken understanding: Give me back more than I give you.
The mind of every merchant is completely corrupted.
Commerce is natural, and therefore infamous.
The least infamous of all merchants is the one who says: ‘Let us be virtuous so as to make much more money than the fools who are vicious.’
For the merchant, honesty itself is a speculation for profit.
Commerce is satanic because it is one of the forms of selfishness, and the lowest, and the vilest.
Socrates
Reading Intimate Journals · My Heart Laid Bare · My Heart Laid Bare · XCVII
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Charles Baudelaire’s private fragments turn from art, love, and crowds to prayer, anger, work, and the discipline of writing. This complete bilingual edition presents all 117 sections of Flares and My Heart Laid Bare, including Hygiène, with an introduction and 104 explanatory notes.
Historical Text and Translation
The French follows Adolphe van Bever’s 1920 edition of Journaux intimes, printed pages 3–42 and 45–112. Its 117 Roman-numbered sections contain the complete Fusées and Mon cœur mis à nu, including Hygiène. These fragments were arranged after Baudelaire’s death; their printed sequence preserves that edition’s organization of loose sheets. The separate selection of maxims on love and the editor’s backmatter are outside this volume.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French. Flares and My Heart Laid Bare retain the fragments’ abrupt turns, repetitions, images, and unfinished projects. French and English paragraphs remain paired, with verse, italics, and printed annotations preserved. The introduction places the notebooks in context; translator’s notes clarify references, ambiguities, and uncertain readings. All 104 notes meet the reader’s Essential criterion and remain available beside their passages.
Rights
Baudelaire’s historical French text and the 1920 printing are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation, introduction, and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimile and catalogue identify the printed source, while a historical transcription supplies a comparison witness. Original annotations retain their attribution, and source references distinguish the printed arrangement from the surviving manuscript sheets.