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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I

Reading language

[On Voltaire.]

The distinction between mind and matter was understood late, but the distinction between earth and heaven, men and gods, the living and mere shades has always been understood.

May […].

To cease loving any but beautiful women and to tolerate bad books,—a sign of decline.

May […].

Clear manners. You do not have clear manners.

My lynx eyes.

May […]1.

Power of attention. And what seems true when our mind is relaxed.

... and there is the smile of the eyes, rather than that of the mouth.

It is the word supplied to the contemplator, but not yet [that] of the mind when it has set itself in action.

May […]1.

Written (for the mind) in small characters, or in minute characters.

May […]3.

I sense the kernel in the nut, the water in the earth, the fire in the flint.

Fat geniuses, do not despise the lean ones.

The difficulty that comes from going about it badly and having to retreat; and the difficulty that comes from going about it well and having to advance and reach the perfection ahead of one.

Sought? no, rather awaited. There is indeed more waiting in it than seeking.

T17.Mânes denotes the shades or spirits of the dead. Mere shades retains simples without turning the distinction into a modern account of matter or asserting that gods and shades are the same.

T18.Cease loving any but preserves ne... plus que: the change is to loving only beautiful women. The paired tolerance of bad books remains part of the same sign of decline.

T19.The repeated clear remains literal. The fragment does not specify whether the manners concern personal conduct, expression, or a particular craft.

T20.Linx is the printed French spelling. Lynx eyes keeps the animal image of keen sight without replacing it with a general claim to insight.

T21.The source editor supplies [e] after vrai, although ce qui would ordinarily call for the masculine form. English true has no gender ending with which to reproduce that bracket; the intervention is recorded here without explaining it away.

T272.Only the terminal date digit 1 is legible. The source brackets supply e after vrai despite the neuter ce qui; the unexplained intervention remains. The clipped est is restored.

T22.English [that] corresponds to the source editor’s supplied [celui]. The word available to the contemplator is distinguished from the word of the mind in action, without a supplied example.

S1.Source editor’s annotationOf May 22, Readings, Journal des Débats: “Beneficence (concerning Delphine), the virtue of women who no longer have honor.” And: “Songs of Blot, manuscript of Mr. Marin...”

T23.Amande means the kernel within the nut here, not a separate almond placed inside it. I sense keeps sens between perception and inward apprehension. Flint renders caillou in the fire-bearing context: the Académie’s 1798 entry describes a hard stone that sparks when struck with steel. The fire remains within the stone rather than becoming a spark already struck.

T27.The source annotation’s May 22 belongs to the quoted Readings material, and does not restore the damaged date above the kernel entry. The remarks about beneficence and honor are translated as quoted, without turning them into editorial assertions.

T276.The separate 22 mai date does not restore the damaged main date. Clipped initials in Delphine and Blot are restored from surviving fragments.

T24.The bodily fat and lean are retained. The printed méprisés has an anomalous s ending, but ne... pas and the direct address give the prohibition do not despise.

T277.The imperative-like méprisés retains the printed s ending.

T25.Sought and awaited preserve the contrast developed by recherche and attente. Recherché can also suggest a labored or affected style; that resonance remains possible rather than becoming the sole meaning.