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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

According to Plato

October 24.

Fleury. first discourse.

I. A sick man’s dreams. Of philosophers. See Varro.

II. Muhammad. Ignorant and eloquent; eloquent in his own language. His religion: “Without mysteries.”

III. A historian “whose style shows vanity” carries little weight.

IV. Abridgments. See page 11 for what makes them useless.

V. Epithets (forbidden). It is for the reader to characterize the people and even the events.

VI. “Elevated minds” and “strong minds.” See page 16.

VII. “To be content (he says) with what God wishes us to know.” Page 19.

VIII. The length of books “introduces ignorance” because it discourages curiosity.

IX. No epithets. Page 21.

X. J.-C. wrote nothing. To teach and to dictate. The divinity inspires and dictates. It is for the disciples to write.

XI. “But the loss of so many precious writings did not occur without that same providence without which a sparrow does not fall to the ground.” Page 30.

XII. “New words” were introduced to explain old words.

XIII. “Discipline.” Has undergone more changes than doctrine. Why. See page 33.

XIV. “Christian life.” True philosophical life, taught to all men and practiced by whole peoples.

March 14.

“The number of sound thoughts is bounded by the very nature of things.” Mr. Agé.

November 3.

Yes, let us remember it well, and never cease repeating it: there is no true good or evil on earth except moral good and evil.

Pains that make one better and pleasures that make one worse. Then pains are a good.

November 4.

Let us take care, and once again let us remember it well: education does not consist merely in adorning memory and enlightening the understanding; it must above all concern itself with enlightening the will.

Instances of filial piety: that is for memory. One must obey one’s father: that is for the understanding. I wish to obey my father and please him in all things: that is the will well directed. If one adds: as N N have done for their fathers and as N N teach, there is the well-educated child.

That one must treat ideas of duties with respect and not subject them to examinations that are too bold. That there is imprudence in leaving what is sacred unveiled before one’s own eyes.

November 5.

The philosopher concerns himself with the universal. That is the character of his mind’s operations.

November 6.

One can give oneself or receive habits such that our feelings always govern our thoughts, or our thoughts always govern our feelings.

T324.This introductory fragment remains Joubert’s text and the first of fifteen paragraphs in one unit; it is not promoted to an invented book title. The precise external edition is not identified here.

T683.The reading-circumstance paragraph and all fourteen Roman paragraphs remain separate. The intact October 24 follows October 31 and is not reordered. Premier begins lowercase after Fleury. The Latin ligature and its terminal period are italic; the Roman I. and all surrounding French remain roman. Epithètes begins with an unaccented capital E, whereas the later lowercase épithètes retains its acute. Scachions, événemens and changemens remain literal. The quotation boundaries, fragmentary subjects, repeated éloquent, negative restrictions, and periods after Pourquoi remain as printed. The page references 11/16/19/21/30/33 belong to the reading note; they are not dates or entry numbers in this edition. No quotation is corrected against an external text.

T325.The italic Latin Ægri somnia receives a fresh translation. The same phrase occurs in Horace’s Ars poetica, verse 7, within the directly read opening passage 1–23. This parallel does not identify the following Varro reference or show who supplied its association. The separate Of philosophers and See Varro fragments remain; no particular Varro text is verified.

T326.Muhammad is the conventional English name for source Mahomet. Both eloquent formulations and the quoted nominal description remain. The judgments belong to the excerpt, without an added account of doctrine or literacy.

T327.The internal quotation remains bounded, and carries little weight preserves the judgment of authority. A complete indexed primary excerpt from Fleury’s first discourse reproduces the vanity phrase in a discussion of historical credibility. Its direct page opens failed: this is an indexed-excerpt control, not a reading of the full discourse, the named 1763 volume or Joubert’s copy. The particular edition used by Joubert remains unidentified.

T328.The nominal opening and external page reference remain. The page is not linked to page 11 of Joubert’s book; its particular edition remains unlocated.

T329.The prohibition stays parenthetic. Characterize renders qualifier contextually; even retains the extension from people to events without inserting a rule about named adjectives.

T330.Both quoted phrases keep the common minds. Strong minds can carry the historical freethinking sense of esprits forts; the pair is not silently replaced with a modern psychological classification. The external page remains unverified.

T331.The infinitive, parenthetic attribution inside the quotation and divine wish remain. The unnamed he is not assigned a new identity beyond the introductory context.

T332.The quotation is limited to introduces ignorance, and because states the given cause. Length remains singular despite plural books.

T333.The brief prohibition remains a fragment and the page remains an external reference; no link is fabricated.

T334.The source initials remain, without silently expanding them in the text. The middle infinitives and the teaching/dictation/inspiration/writing distinctions remain.

T335.Both without constructions and the small-bird comparison remain inside one quotation. No biblical verse or exact Fleury edition is claimed from the familiar image alone.

T336.Only new words is quoted. The passive past and explanatory purpose remain; the sentence does not identify an inventor or particular vocabulary.

T337.The finite fragment, comparison and Why followed by a period remain. No governing subject is inserted into the second sentence and no change of doctrine is inferred.

T338.The initial quotation ends before the nominal explanation. All men and whole peoples retain their different collective scopes, and taught/practiced remain distinct.

T339.The complete quotation, number/bounded relation and nature of things remain. Mr. gives ordinary English typography for M with raised r. Agé is the opaque native reading, without a personal identity or expansion; its qualified source glyphs were checked independently at original resolution, confirming the opaque reading. The printed March 14 remains here between October and November, without reassignment of the month or year.

T684.The intact March 14 occurs here between October and November and is not reordered or assigned another month. The attribution visibly has raised r after M and the opaque Agé, with a plain initial A, g-shaped middle letter and acute final é. No name expansion or identity is supplied. The independent native comparison agrees with this qualified opaque reading.

T340.Yes, both exhortations and the restriction remain. The repeated good/evil pair keeps its order; true is not made a judgment about the speaker’s sincerity.

T685.The day 3 is intact. The negative imperative and later restrictive ne…que remain distinct. The comma before que and singular véritable/moral are printed; no agreement normalization is made. Souvenons-nous retains its hyphen.

T341.The first sentence remains nominal. The second keeps then and the substantival a good; the qualification is not changed into a universal claim that every pain is good. English one supplies an ordinary generic object of make; it is not a recovered French word.

T686.The first nominal-relative contrast and second finite conclusion remain. The object of rendent is not supplied in French.

T342.The exhortations, merely and above all remain. Memory, understanding and will retain separate functions; adorning and enlightening are not collapsed into generic instruction.

T687.Both paragraphs remain separate; the second begins physically on page 765. Prenons y and souvenons nous are unhyphenated here. The intact negative pas seulement, repeated éclairer, and memory/understanding/will distinctions remain. The native continuation preserves its four italic phrases and the intervening roman colons/prose. Ajoute has a cramped but identifiable first a beside marginal noise; no missing word is inferred. The two N N groups remain opaque and unexpanded.

T343.The three teaching examples and changes of person remain, with their corresponding faculties. Both N N placeholders remain opaque. The conditional addition does not become an independent maxim. This second paragraph begins physically on page 765. Its four italic phrases correspond to the source’s three examples and the final conditional example, with the intervening colons and explanatory prose roman.

T344.Both dependent That openings, the degree limit too bold and one’s own eyes remain. The veil image is not replaced by an abstract prohibition on inquiry.

T688.Both dependent Qu’il openings remain in one paragraph, with the negative infinitive and the unveiled/sacred image retained. The clipped outer margin does not remove a complete initial in these lines.

T345.The universal remains substantival, and operations is plural. No particular philosophical school is inferred.

T689.The day 5 is intact. The substantive universel and singular philosopher/spirit with plural operations remain.

T346.Both ways of acquiring habits, both always formulations and the reversal remain. Give oneself does not erase the alternative of receiving.