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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1815

The philosophers forgive Jansenism because Jansenism is a kind of philosophy.

Of those who have mind (in penetration and) through movement; and of those who have it in patience and through light.

September 30.

The École normale. — Vices armed with knowledge. Words for folly, arguments for the passions; self-conceit for youth.

Wisdom, or the knowledge of good and evil. Those who are wise, those who have taste (sapere comes from sapor): the taste that distinguishes good from evil, and that which distinguishes the sweet from the bitter, the agreeable from its contrary, etc. Many people discern the good from the bad without distinguishing good from evil.

It is not light that burns, that purifies, that consumes, that divides and recomposes: it is fire. And the fire of which we speak is always followed by light.

Of what one must say and Of what one must leave unsaid. The importance of knowing it.

Puffs of light and explosions of wisdom. Singular expressions that seem to exclude each other, but are exact and reconciled by the fact.

To be a philosopher, in the popular sense of the word, is to be determined to judge everything by one’s own reason.

October 1.

No one is good, can be useful or deserves to be loved unless he has something heavenly, either in his intelligence through thoughts or in his will through affections directed toward heaven.

October 2.

Whatever you may do, men believe only God. And only he persuades them who believes that God has spoken to him. No one gives faith unless he has faith.

October 1.

Brothers and sisters of Périgord. They are trained to displease one another.

October 3.

All conquerors have had something common in their views, in their genius and in their character.

T336.The repeated Jansenism and a-kind-of qualification remain. Forgive retains pardonnent rather than strengthening it to full agreement or support.

T337.The Of fragment and unusual parenthesis remain, including the and inside it. Mind preserves esprit rather than choosing wit alone; in/through distinctions keep the uneven formulation, and it refers back to mind without specifying a person.

T338.The institution’s French proper name remains, with no added founding date. The arming metaphor and three verbless gifts are retained. Self-conceit contextually renders suffisance as presumptuous self-assurance, not material adequacy; this contextual reading was retained after independent literary review. English accents École conventionally; the literal French Ecole has a plain capital E. Literal scavoir and argumens remain in French.

T686.Complete 30 remains. Ecole has plain capital E; scavoir has plain c, without a certified cedilla. The period/dash, nominal armament formulation, two repeated des phrases and final semicolon remain. Argumens is literal.

T339.Those who are wise freshly renders italic Qui sapiunt; the following French explanation remains separately those who have taste. Sapere and sapor stay as italic Latin words under discussion, with the source’s derivation retained as its claim. The Latin relation joins wisdom/knowing to taste/flavor. Moral good/evil is distinguished from good/bad quality in the last sentence, with many and without intact; no grammatical fragment is silently completed by an external maxim. The italic scope includes the comma after Qui sapiunt and its English counterpart; the metalinguistic Latin words have separate italic spans within a roman parenthesis.

T340.The not-light/fire correction and all five actions remain. English inserts a comma after burns to read the repeated relative forms as one sequence; the source has no visible comma there and can also suggest light that burns as an initial unit. The final always and order of fire then light remain.

T341.The repeated Of and must, the source’s second capital and final nominal importance remain. Leave unsaid preserves the object of transitive taire rather than turning it into absolute silence; the final it points to the distinction without supplying particular content.

T689.Both De forms are capitalized. The repeated obligation, paired dire/taire and nominal Importance remain. Scavoir is literal with plain c, not normalized.

T342.Both forceful physical images and the nominal opening remain. Seem qualifies exclusion; exact and reconciled preserve the source’s two judgments. The fact stays singular and unspecified rather than becoming a supplied example.

T690.The first nominal coordination, repeated des, plural reciprocal-looking reflexive, contrast and par le fait remain. The con-/ciliées wrap is complete. Paroissent retains plain i.

T343.Both infinitives, the restricted sense of the word, determination, everything and own reason remain. Popular means common usage in this context, not public approval.

T691.Initial Etre has plain capital E. Both commas, the popular-sense qualification, universal tout and possessive propre remain. Bounded independent comparison agrees with the named 839 margin letters, qualified first date, lowercase jansénisme, plain scavoir and three italic spans, retaining all contour qualifications and the distinction between clipped native crops and complete color support. No new apparatus or outgoing continuation occurs.

T344.The three negative predicates retain their distinct is/can/deserves modalities under unless. Something, both either/or faculties and their thoughts/affections counterparts remain; the final direction is toward heaven.

T692.Complete 1 with raised er remains. The three negative predicates and conditional s’il n’a are literal; no pas is added. Both soit alternatives, repeated dans/par, plural thoughts/affections and final relative clause remain.

T345.The opening concession and three restrictions remain. Believe only God retains the direct object, not merely belief in God’s existence. The past speaking and both faith terms keep the relation between conviction and persuasion.

T693.Complete 2 remains. The future concessive opening, restrictive ne...que, seul, perfect a parlé and conditional final negation remain. Celui là is printed without a hyphen. The repeated foi remains.

T346.The nominal opening and place remain. The passive makes the unspecified trainer implicit as in on, and one another gives a contextual reciprocal reading of se déplaire; a reflexive shade is not independently ruled out. The repeated October 1 date stays after October 2.

T694.The complete 1 with raised er returns after 2 and is not reordered. The nominal regional pairing and reflexive se déplaire remain. Original-size color supports a plain dot over i in déplaire, without a certified circumflex.

T347.All, the completed experience, something and the three in phrases remain. Common preserves commun’s possible ordinary or shared quality without narrowing it to either a named shared trait or an explicit accusation of vulgarity.