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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1809

The world needs these opinions and God wants us to have them.

Such an education is only a beautiful evil.

November […].

Happiness is to feel that one’s soul is good. There is no other […]onheur properly so called than that. And it can exist in affliction; it can even exist in remorse. That is why there are sorrows preferable to all joys and that would be preferred to them […]ar all those who have felt them.

November […].

The Jansenists have brought to religion more of a spirit of reflection […]t greater depth. They bind themselves more closely with its […]acrés bonds. There is in their thoughts an austerity that circumscribes the will within duty without […]esse. Their understanding, in short, has more Christian habi[…]udes.

And to forbid them “to teach the faith they do not have,” as Roman law said: Fidem insinuare quam non habent. (Cod. lib. 1, tit. V, §2.)

November […].

One must gladden the old,—in all our operations as in[…]pecteurs, councilors, and grand master.

November […]1.

Those for whom Racine suffices are poor Souls and poor […]sprits. They are souls and minds that have remained greenhorns and convent boarders. Admirable, no doubt, for having made poetic […]es most bourgeois feelings and the most mediocre passions! […]l takes the place only of himself. He is a superior writer—and in literature that is to say everything. But whatever one may say, he is no inimitable […]crivain: there are none. Pradon has made many verses like his.

Each man loves his own unison. Now that of professional men of letters does not resemble that of most men.

To have a good mind and a bad brain is quite possible and fairly common among the delicate. And understand well that a bad brain does not mean a bad head.

November […]4.

Yes, blow this soft indulgence over them and make the passions blossom; they will reap the bitter fruits. You see there only […]tudians, and I see young men.

November […]7.

Veluti famæ suæ prodigus... notari opportebit (say Arcadius and Honorius in title 15 of book 2 of the Code.) (Mʳ Cv—r is famæ suæ prodigus.

— whose reason has no severity, nor taste any indulgence, which means that in them there is not the character proper to either faculty. Softly rocked through life, even on their bed of pain, they will end their course and will have run it outside the lists, incapable of straying, but incapable of leading.

T111.These opinions remain unspecified. Needs and wants remain distinct predicates of the world and God; the sentence does not silently replace opinions with proved truths.

T112.Beautiful and evil preserve the unsoftened paradox. Such leaves the kind of education unspecified.

T113.The soul’s goodness is felt, rather than merely a pleasant feeling in the soul. The residues […]onheur and […]ar remain French; bonheur, happiness, and par, by, are possible completions. Sorrows and joys retain their comparative relation, with the conditional would be preferred distinct from the initial claim.

T291.The day is wholly lost before novembre. The initials before onheur and ar are not certifiable; bonheur and par are contextual completions, not restored print. The wrapped affliction and initial d of douleurs retain partial letter traces and are qualified readings. Joyes and unhyphenated celui là remain.

T114.Reflection and depth render the two contributions to religion. The residues […]t, […]acrés, […]esse, and habi[…]udes remain French; et, and; sacrés, sacred; cesse, ceasing; and habitudes, habits, are contextual completions only. Bind and bonds preserve the repeated root; circumscribes retains the enclosing image of duty.

T115.The opening infinitive and unnamed them remain. The Latin repeats the sense of the quoted French: to impart the faith they do not have. The printed Code reference is retained. The phrase occurs in Codex 1.5.2pr., within a prohibition on heretical teaching. This identifies the passage in the checked text, not Joubert’s particular edition; the surrounding law is not completed and the Latin is not silently normalized.

T293.The opening infinitive remains without a supplied finite clause or named referents. The initial parts of disoit and lib. are crossed by left-margin damage; these complete readings remain qualified from the surviving strokes. The printed reference and Latin are not normalized from an external legal text.

T116.The obligation to gladden remains connected to the administrative operations. The French in[…]pecteurs remains a residue, probably inspecteurs, inspectors. Councilors is plural and grand master singular as printed; no officeholder or institution is added.

T117.Greenhorns renders béjaunés as inexperienced or immature, retaining the disparagement. The capital Souls is kept at its first appearance. The residues […]sprits, […]es, […]l, and […]crivain remain French: esprits, minds; les, the; Il, he; and écrivain, writer, are possible completions. Takes the place only of himself does not make Racine a substitute for all literature. The subjectless Admirable, the exclamation, and the claim that no writer is inimitable remain. The related noun béjaune in the 1798 Académie carries a disparaging sense of foolish or naïve youth; this supports the rendering without independently attesting the exact adjectival form béjaunés.

T295.Only final 1 is secure in the date. The first Ames is capitalized without a certified accent; the later âmes is lowercase with circumflex. Béjaunés retains its accents and printed spelling; poëtiques has a diaeresis. Missing initials before sprits, es, l and crivain remain marked; esprits, les, Il and écrivain are contextual possibilities. The wrapped pensionnaires, initial littérature and vers are partly damaged but preserve supporting traces and remain qualified readings. The subjectless Admirable and the exclamation remain.

T118.Unison preserves the musical word and the preference for what sounds together with oneself. The comparison concerns professional men of letters and most men; it is not changed into a claim that all writers agree.

T119.Mind, brain, and head remain three terms. The delicate is left broad enough for the source’s physical or temperamental delicacy; no diagnosis is supplied. The final imperative stresses the distinction rather than defining bad head by a single modern expression.

T120.Blow, blossom, and reap preserve the successive image. Bitter fruits remain the outcome of the passions being fostered. The French […]tudians remains a residue, probably étudians, students; Joubert’s contrasting young men is not converted into children.

T298.Only final 4 is secure in the date. The wrapped passions retains a partly visible initial s on the second line and is a qualified reading. Before tudians the opening is lost; étudians is possible but not restored as fully read.

T121.The Latin and the named rulers’ printed Code location remain exact, including opportebit with doubled p. The opening says that someone will have to be branded as prodigal of their own reputation; the ellipsis leaves the connection abbreviated. Famæ suæ prodigus means prodigal of their own reputation. The opaque Cv—r and raised Mʳ remain, and the second parenthesis is not closed. The corresponding passage is Codex 2.14.1.4 in the checked text, under Arcadius and Honorius. It has plural prodigos and single-p oportebit, and censures involvement in others’ lawsuits. Joubert’s title 15, singular prodigus, ellipsis, and spelling remain; his particular edition and the personal identity are unidentified.

T299.Only final 7 is secure in the date. The enlarged facsimile supports the printed doubled p in opportebit; no normalization to oportebit is imposed. Mʳ has a raised r and the opaque Cv—r is unexpanded. Honorius and the wrapped final prodigus are partly clipped and retain qualified complete readings. The second opening parenthesis remains unclosed.

T122.The initial relative has no supplied antecedent. Reason’s severity and taste’s indulgence remain the respective qualities. The unnamed person takes singular they. Rocking, bed of pain, course, and the lists preserve the motion and contest imagery; the future and future perfect remain distinct, as do straying and leading. This one paragraph continues onto page 680.