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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1815

July 24.

G+n+, — who has the beginning of every possible fault, but he does not have the end of them.

July 25.

A man who knows how to be cowardly with grace, with propriety, with nobility and even with dignity.

The Athenians had a naturally noble and moving turn of mind, as the French have a naturally amusing one.

May […]3.

A constitution can indeed be only a definition. Now when one defines man, for example, and speaks of his body and his soul, one does not create them, one does not give them to him; one only counts them, one declares them. And if this declaration gave him four eyes and three legs, he does not thereby increase them. It would indeed be possible to make regulations on the use a man can make of the eyes and legs he has, but not to give them to him.

July 28.

Diderot is less baleful than Jean-Jacques. The most pernicious of follies is the one that resembles wisdom (what one takes for wisdom).

July 29.

For eighty years, fancy has been queen of the world. Each makes his own rule, and one changes it at every moment.

July 30.

We are all more or less echoes, and despite ourselves we repeat the virtues, the faults, the movements and the character of others, I mean of those with whom we live.

July 31.

Of those whose brusqueness is a sign of their good humor.

August 3.

There is indeed “a right of the wisest,” but not a “right of the strongest,” right and force having by their nature nothing in common with one another.

August 19.

In what sense right and force exclude each other. Indeed, one must place right where force is not, force being a power in itself. Now, the multitude is always force.

August 22.

That: in all things one must beautify kings. For their happiness, for ours and for that of society.

When a truth is better conceived through abstraction, use abstraction; otherwise, no.

T311.The opaque code and its plus signs stay unexpanded. The relative opening, singular beginning/end, all-possible scope and resumed he remain; the uneven sentence is not completed with an identified name.

T660.Complete 24 remains. The opaque baseline code G+n+ and following comma/dash are preserved without a name expansion. Both plus signs remain distinct; tous, possibles and the contrasting negative predicate remain.

T312.The nominal-relative formulation, knows-how, all four repeated with terms and even remain. Cowardly renders lâche’s moral weakness here, with baseness also possible; it is not neutralized as mere timidity. The source literally prints scait, without a certified cedilla or circumflex; that form is not normalized in French.

T661.Complete 25 remains. Original-size color/native 369 read literal scait: the c has no certified cedilla and the a no upper circumflex. No normalized sçait or sait is substituted. The nominal relative construction and four avec phrases, including même, remain.

T313.Moving renders pathétique as stirring the passions, supported by the complete 1798 Académie entry, not as pitiably inadequate. Amusing renders plaisant in the contrasting quality; both naturally terms and the past/present distinction remain. Turn of mind is an English construction for esprit, not an added faculty or a verified national generalization.

T662.The two national names, repeated naturellement, first pair of adjectives and comparative comme remain. No new date is assigned.

T314.The only-definition restriction, both initial negatives, counts/declares distinction and exact four-eyes/three-legs numbers remain. The imperfect conditional hypothesis and following present does not increase retain the source’s shift. The final possibility concerns use, not creation. The May date stays in its published place among July entries, without completing its damaged day or changing the month. Only the suffix 3 is legible in that May day. Literal accroit has no certified circumflex; the source’s present tense is not silently harmonized.

T663.Only terminal 3 is certified; the damaged left stem/projections do not establish an earlier digit. Literal mai remains within the July sequence without chronological repair. The left-edge on/son/les/quatre/possible/peut/donner starts remain identifiable under their qualified abrasion, with no extra words recovered. The first restrictive ne...que, two distinct negative predicates and semicolon, only, repeated les, four/three counts, literal accroit with a dot-like i mark rather than a certified circumflex, and final negative contrast remain. The imperfect donnoit, conditional seroit and present accroit/peut remain; no tense regularization is made.

T315.The comparative less and superlative most retain their degrees. The repeated wisdom and full parenthesis preserve the resemblance/mistaking relation; neither a work nor a motive is supplied.

T664.Complete 28 remains. The comparative and superlative degrees, full hyphenated name, repeated sagesse and full explanatory parenthesis remain. The thin vertical right-margin mark is separate from the printed sentence and is not transcribed as punctuation.

T316.The eighty-year duration and feminine queen image remain. Fancy contextually renders phantaisie as variable individual inclination rather than only creative imagination. Each/one and every-moment preserve the instability of the rules; no start year is calculated or inserted.

T665.Complete 29 remains. The number 80, literal phantaisie, reflexive se fait, en and repeated universal distributive terms remain. The paragraph ends on 837; no continuation is inferred. The bounded independent comparison agrees with the named 837 margin losses, plain scait/accroit, code, parentheses and date contours, retaining all qualifications and the recorded limits of the clipped or displaced native crops. All main text is roman.

T317.All, more or less and despite ourselves retain their scopes. All four repeated qualities and the speaker’s final restriction remain; movements keeps the source’s bodily or inward-motion possibilities.

T318.The nominal Of opening and the apparently contrary sign relation remain. Good humor describes their disposition rather than a talent for jokes; no person is identified.

T667.Complete 31 remains. The opening De fragment, possessive leur and singular un signe remain without a supplied main predicate.

T319.The two superlatives and quoted formulations remain distinct; the first quote includes a, while the second article stays outside it. Indeed, not and nothing-in-common preserve the argument. English quotation commas follow American style.

T668.Complete 3 remains. Bien and non pas are retained. The first quotation includes un; the second begins at droit, with its preceding un outside the guillemets. In the French source, both commas follow the closing guillemets. The negative participial clause and rien de commun remain.

T320.The opening indirect-question fragment keeps its period. The obligation, where-not contrast, in-itself and always retain their force. Power renders puissance distinctly from force; no current institution is supplied.

T669.Complete 19 remains. The first interrogative phrase ends with the printed period rather than an added question mark. The mutual exclusion, obligation, negative clause, hyphenated elle-même, causal participle and final toujours remain. The wrapped puis-/sance is complete.

T321.The opening That and colon, all-things scope and obligation remain. Beautify preserves embellir’s aesthetic wording without deciding whether it means outward portrayal or actual improvement. The second sentence stays a fragment with all three for phrases.

T322.The conditional circumstance, better comparison, imperative and repeated abstraction remain. The final no stays compressed rather than receiving a new explanatory clause.

T671.The conditional opening, reflexive se conçoit, comparative mieux, repeated abstraction, imperative and semicolon/comma remain. Original-size color certifies the complete right-edge employez.