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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1815

All richness is variety (and variety to the point of profusion, but a well-conceived profusion); all beauty, simplicity.

August 23.

Of priestly families. After arms, nothing is beautiful but study and piety.

September 8.

Some want what is unjust, others what is impossible.

F×ch× would have too many bad habits to overcome; the others are too little suited to the present time.

The blind are cheerful because they imagine much; or because they see with their imagination everything they hear. Heaven compensates the blind person.

September 21.

Exactness depends on the greater or lesser precision of direction toward the goal. In politics, for example, the goal is public virtue. Thus all ideas that do not keep it in view will lack exactness because they will lack a right direction.

The goal of metaphysics is morals; the goal of morals is goodness.

September 24.

Analyses. — If teaching the mind to walk is teaching it to unlearn flying; and if its feet are worth less than its wings; and if for its inward [light], which is divine, one substitutes this light from [outside], material and wholly earthly, and the words of men for [those] of God.

The difference between delirium and inspiration. Of ages in which they are [confused]. And that it is as great a misfortune to take inspiration for delirium as delirium for an inspiration.

When I see such young people, I say that heaven wishes to ruin the world.

France destroyed by its philosophers.

September 25.

Light minds, but minds that do not have light opinions. Their doctrines and their virtues make them grave when they must be. There are, on the contrary, serious and gloomy minds that have very futile doctrines, and then all is lost.

September 29.

“To say things pleasing to God.” (Plato, in the Phaedrus.)

T323.The repeated all, variety and profusion remain with the full parenthesis and final nominal ellipsis. Well-conceived renders bien entendue contextually as judiciously arranged, not merely intellectually comprehended; exact historical spelling remains in French. The source specifically prints entenduë with qualified diaeresis.

T672.Both toute forms, repeated variété/profusion, full parenthesis, bien, semicolon and final verbless pairing remain. Entenduë literally has two raised e-components in the original-size color/native view; the diaeresis is retained with reproduction limits.

T324.The nominal opening and only-study-and-piety restriction remain. After arms retains the order of esteem suggested by the source; arms can denote the military calling rather than simply weapons, without creating a chronological event. English moves After arms to the start of its sentence, retaining its scope while avoiding the source’s interrupting commas.

T673.Complete 23 remains. In the French source, the initial nominal fragment, restrictive rien...que, inserted après phrase with both commas and coordinated study/piety remain.

T325.The two unspecified groups and their different objects remain. The second clause leaves the repeated verb unexpressed; no political identities are supplied.

T326.The two cross-shaped signs remain in the opaque code without name expansion. Would-have, too-many and too-little retain their different degrees; the first hypothetical task contrasts with the others’ present suitability.

T675.Original-size color shows two diagonal cross-shaped signs in the opaque baseline code, diplomatically represented by × without a name expansion or mathematical interpretation. The conditional necessity, trop, semicolon and distinct trop peu remain.

T327.The two alternative causes, much/everything distinction and repeated imagining/seeing remain. The final singular blind person preserves the source’s shift from the plural opening. The statement is translated as Joubert’s generalization, not supplemented with claims about perception.

T328.Exactness renders repeated justesse, distinguished from precision for exacte and right for juste. The degrees, goal/public-virtue example, all-ideas restriction and two future lacks remain; the source’s directional metaphor is preserved.

T329.The repeated goal and morals link remain, with goodness distinct from the discipline or rules of morals. This is a separate second paragraph of the same dated unit.

T330.The heading-like Analyses remains part of the body, followed by three if clauses whose main consequence is not supplied. Teaching/unlearning, feet/wings and inward/outside light retain their contrasts. The final substitution runs from divine to earthly light and from God’s words to men’s words. The paragraph continues through the first three lines of 839; no consequence is supplied despite the terminal period. [Light], [outside] and [those] contextually complete the incoming 839 losses […]umière, […]ehors and […]elles. Inward and from remain ordinary counterparts to intact source wording; no missing initials are restored in French.

T678.Complete 24 remains. One paragraph crosses 838/839 without new punctuation or paragraph at the boundary. Les Analyses, period/dash, three si clauses, two semicolons, repeated et and comparative moins remain. The désa-/pprendre wrap is complete. The conditional sequence has no supplied main consequence. At the three 839 opening slots, only umière/ehors/elles are certified. The isolated l-like trace, incomplete d bowl and separated c-like upper/lower fragments do not certify full missing initials. The surviving u is abraded but identifiable. No French completion is recovered from syntax. The final printed period remains. All 838 main text and its 839 continuation are roman. Bounded independent comparison agrees with entenduë, opaque diagonal signs, complete right-edge words and the three incoming 839 losses, retaining all contour qualifications; the corrective native crop supplies the word clipped in the first native target.

T331.All three nominal or dependent formulations remain. The equal comparison and reversed mistakings retain both directions, with the final indefinite article preserved. Delirium is not reduced to an authenticated medical diagnosis. [Confused] contextually completes the damaged con[…]ond; no complete f is recovered from the margin.

T679.At the con- wrap only ond is certified at the damaged next-line opening; no complete f is recovered. The later pour has an abraded but identifiable p in color. The two nominal opening formulations, dependent Et que, repeated délire/inspiration and aussi...que comparison remain.

T332.The first-person temporal circumstance, reported judgment and wishes remain. Such keeps the demonstrative without assigning particular youths; ruin renders perdre’s destructive force without a new motive.

T680.The repeated first-person je, de tels and reported divine intention remain. The next-line monde has a degraded but identifiable first m in color; no extra word or complete lost prefix is inferred.

T333.The nominal participial fragment and agency remain without an added finite verb or independently established causal account.

T681.The nominal participial formulation and possessive ses remain without an inserted finite verb.

T334.Both light terms retain the wordplay and the first nominal form. English repeats minds to carry the relative clause. Doctrines/virtues, when-required, on-the-contrary, very and all-lost preserve the opposed judgments; grave is not flattened to humorless. The opening September 25 date retains a qualified first digit read from color; it is not inferred from sequence.

T682.The first 2 is a qualified color reading: the worn upper curve, descending transition and short lower foot remain discernible beside clear 5, although the binary witness loses much of the contour. It is not inferred from sequence. The doc-/trines wrap and contrary/futile openings remain identifiable under margin abrasion. The repeated light/serious qualities, negative relative, repeated possessives, quand condition, contrasting grave/sombre descriptions, très and final tout remain.

T335.The quotation remains infinitival and the parenthetic attribution remains in Joubert’s body. The French wording is freshly translated without claiming an exact Greek locus or consulting an English Plato quotation; the English period is inside its closing quotation under American style.

T683.Complete 29 remains. In the French source, the quotation closes before the period; the full parenthetic attribution remains in the same paragraph with its own period inside the closing parenthesis. All text is roman.