Diotimos Reading Desk

Tap the page, move to the top or bottom edge, swipe down, or press Tab to reveal reading controls. Use the arrow keys or swipe sideways to turn pages.

← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1809

Old age. This age is a friend of order by the very fact that it is […]mi of its rest.

There are infinitely many things one does well only when one […]ait them out of necessity.

November […]7.

Mathematics makes the mind exact in mathematics, and […]ettres make it exact in morals. Mathematics teaches one to […]aire bridges, and morals teaches one to live.

November […]9.

1. What comes from the mind partakes of our mood. What comes […]u the heart partakes of our temperaments. What comes from the soul parti[…]ipe of God himself.

2. Mind speaks to mind, heart to heart, and soul to soul.

3. Our mind is molded by our opinions, or our opinions are molded by our mind. Our heart is molded by our feelings […]u our feelings are molded by our heart. The soul receives and sets outside itself truth as it is.

The false mind is always false and false in everything, as a squinting eye always looks askew. Besides, one has a false mind only […]orsque one has a false heart.

The false mind is always a lying mind, which lies to itself and lies to others. The sincere mind can never be a false mind.

The false mind is a squinting mind that tends toward some goal at which it does not appear to aim.

The false mind is an enveloped mind that does not wish to let itself be seen or penetrated.

The frank mind is a true mind, which is the opposite of the false mind.

December 1.

The chatterbox is one who speaks more than they think. One who thinks much and speaks much does not pass for a chatterbox. The chatterbox speaks from the mouth, the eloquent person speaks from the heart.

December 2.

Every method is systematic. The one adapted to habits is reasonable. The one best suited to the ordinary nature of the mind is excellent.

December […]3.

All these arts and all these sciences that do not teach one to live well.

To fear passing for a pedant in this profession is to be a fop.

December 5.

God makes use of everything, even our illusions.

December 6.

Balzac. He is full of fine words and fine reasons.

Sometimes one cannot even conceive the feelings one no longer has.

T135.Friend preserves the personification of age. The French […]mi remains a residue, probably ami, friend; the possessive rest belongs to old age, not order.

T136.Only when retains the limiting condition. The residue […]ait remains French, with fait, does, a possible completion. Necessity is not changed into a freely chosen motive.

T312.The initial before ait is lost; fait is a possible completion, not certified.

T137.Exact renders juste in both fields, preserving the repeated predicate rather than assigning moral virtue to the first. The French […]ettres and […]aire remain residues; lettres, letters or literary studies, and faire, make, are possible completions. The bridge-making and living comparison is retained. Make follows the intact plural les and rendent; the damaged noun is not completed.

T313.Only final 7 is secure in the date. The left-edge initials before ettres and aire are lost; lettres and faire are possible completions. The mathematics and morals formulations retain their repeated terms.

T138.The three numbered statements retain mind, heart, and soul as distinct sources. Mood and temperaments preserve the different terms humeur and tempéramens. The residues […]u and parti[…]ipe remain French; du, from the, and participe, partakes, are possible completions. God himself remains the object of the third relation.

T314.Only final 9 is secure in the date; the three numbered physical paragraphs remain. In paragraph 1, the clipped letter before u cannot certify du, and the wrapped parti-/ipe loses c at the next-line opening; these remain explicit residues. Paragraph 3 likewise loses the beginning before u, plausibly ou. The line-initial moulées and hors retain supporting fragments and are qualified complete readings. Tempéramens and sentimens keep their printed endings; lui-même is hyphenated.

T139.The three faculty pairings and the single expressed speaks remain, without supplying three separate speeches or speakers. This stays the second paragraph of the numbered unit.

T140.Molded recurs four times in American spelling. The first or is intact; the second possible ou remains the French residue […]u. The soul’s receiving and setting truth outside itself retain the unusual spatial image without reducing it to a generic statement that the soul expresses opinions.

T141.False recurs in each predication. Squinting and askew preserve the eye’s misdirected gaze. The French […]orsque remains a residue, probably lorsque, when; only preserves the restriction without restoring the missing letter.

T142.Always and never keep their categorical force. The two lies retain the distinct recipients, itself and others; sincere is not replaced by intelligent.

T143.Squinting repeats the earlier eye image for louche, with its figurative suggestion of a devious aim. Tends toward and appears to aim remain distinct, and no particular goal is supplied.

T144.Enveloped preserves the image of being wrapped or concealed. Seen and penetrated remain separate infinitives under the refusal to allow either; no actual covering or external observer is added.

T145.Frank, true, and false remain distinct terms. The final statement stays the fifth physical paragraph of the same unit, without a new title or entry.

T146.Speaks recurs throughout. More than contrasts with the following much and much; does not pass for concerns how the person is regarded. The mouth and heart remain the respective origins of speech, and the generic person takes singular they.

T316.The date’s er is raised. The initial letters of beaucoup and the second bavard are partly crossed by margin damage but remain identifiable with a qualification.

T147.Systematic, reasonable, and excellent retain the sequence of judgments. The ordinary nature of the mind remains distinct from acquired habits. The source spelling systhématique is unchanged in French; English uses its ordinary spelling.

T148.The repeated all and the nominal relative formulation remain. Sciences keeps its broad historical sense rather than being restricted to present-day natural science. Live well is not reduced to material comfort.

T318.Only final 3 is secure in the damaged December day. The nominal relative construction remains without a supplied main clause. The initial v of vivre is partly clipped and retained from its surviving strokes.

T149.Passing for retains the concern with reputation. Fop renders fat as a conceited, affected person, without identifying the profession.

T150.Makes use of preserves the instrumental statement; even extends everything to illusions without asserting that they are true.

T151.Fine recurs for belles in both phrases. Balzac is left in the source’s abbreviated form of reference, without an added forename or book title.

T152.Even conceive is stronger than merely remembering. The present inability concerns feelings no longer held, without a supplied reason for their loss.