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 1816

June 7.

Only the light that comes from the soul can illuminate our mind. But only the light that comes from God can illuminate the soul.

Of false wisdom and false sages. One is not a false sage and does not have false wisdom by nature, but by method.

June […].

Mystical quality, mystics. — A mystic, or one inwardly devout. Mystical quality, or secret, hidden, inward [devotion]; and consequently fervent, [private], singular.

(In secret or secretly, say the ancient rubrics.)

June […].

Why are we all so sensitive to the impression of things, [pleasant] or unpleasant? Our fathers were less so. It is because our [mind] is emptier, our weakness greater, we are [less] occupied by serious feelings or solid thoughts. The man [who] hastens to his duty and keeps it in view pays less heed to everything in his path.

Why are we so occupied with our pleasures, great or small? [It is] because we occupy ourselves too little with our duties, small or great.

June […]0.

In what sense it is true that injustice can be sufficiently [punished] only by injustice. — Injustice can be sufficiently [punished] only by injustice, since nothing is so cruel as to [suffer] it.

June 16.

— like the genealogists who distribute nobility and do not have it, care little to have it.

— if heaven has made truth such that men can understand it, so as not to deceive them.

June 18.

Voltaire. A village practitioner...

His bored face has nothing left but the frightful. (Boileau.)

The age, the age... What do they call the age? — The woods, the fields, the meadows, the trees, the valleys and the mountains? They are always the same. To the age I oppose eternity — or human nature with its indestructible immutability, for natures do not change and cannot change. — The age, and everything they line up under that name, is not in the universe outside the human mind, but enclosed in a few heads and a small number of weak, limited, changeable wills, more so even than they wish, despite their obstinacy. Change them in good time, these heads, which time will change, but perhaps too late and to no purpose.

Oh, how a strong head is still a weak head! A trifle can destroy it, even a trifle can change it. Its strength is only a weakness more obstinate than that of ordinary men.

The firmness of a firm man is only a more constant inconstancy, a more obstinate weakness.

T85.The two light/source/recipient relations retain their hierarchy and both can-only restrictions. Mind and soul remain distinct; But remains explicit.

T86.The nominal heading, repeated false, two negatives and nature/method contrast remain. The singular sage and plural opening sages are preserved without identifying a school.

T261.The nominal De fragment, two point negatives and repeated false/wisdom/sage terms remain, with the par nature/mais par méthode opposition. All main text is roman; the named 850 opaque-code/title elevation, quotation boundaries, complete dates and right-edge words are retained as the source specialist’s qualified collation findings.

T87.The related mystical terms, inward repetition and all six qualities remain. Mystic is read as a person in the explanatory phrase, while mystical quality renders mysticité without collapsing it into mysticism. Singular retains the possible individual or unusual quality without choosing a modern category. [Devotion] and [private] are broad conjectural renderings of […]votion and pri[…]e; the missing French letters remain uncertified. The day before juin. is unreadable.

T262.No full day survives before the first juin. At the two wrapped left openings, only votion and final e are complete: the damaged e-like/upper components do not certify dé or vé. Secrette has two t. The successive nominal definitions, repeated Mysticité/Mystique and causal conséquent remain. The second paragraph is an independent parenthetic rubric. The Greek reads qualified Μυστικῶς, with an omega upper circumflex-like mark supported by color/native 383; its compressed contour remains qualified. In the French source, the Greek and ou/parentheses are roman; secreto, is italic through its comma. No external rubric or missing wording is imported.

T88.The Greek adverb Μυστικῶς and Latin secreto receive distinct fresh English adverbial counterparts, in secret and secretly, within the retained parenthesis. This is a contextual gloss under the preceding secret, hidden, inward devotion; the exact ancient rubric or liturgical book remains unidentified. The canonical Μυστικῶς retains the qualified upper circumflex-like omega mark; only secreto, is italic in the source, corresponding to secretly, in English.

T89.The question, all, two alternatives, comparison with our fathers and three explanations remain. Emptier and less occupied preserve the relation of vuide/désoccupés without inventing a cause outside the text. The duty in view, haste and final comparison remain; no clinical diagnosis is supplied. The broad English brackets correspond respectively to […]gréables, […]sprit, […]lus and the first […]ui. Less occupies the comparative position of incomplete […]lus in plus désoccupés; it is an English change of polarity, not a claimed recovered French moins. The final […]ui has no separately expressed lexical counterpart in everything in his path: the English prepositional construction is retained without an invented bracket, and the French gap remains visible.

T263.The second day retains only incomplete disconnected stems/blocks, not a certified numeral. In paragraph 1 the complete left residues are gréables/sprit/lus/ui/ui; preceding components do not certify a/q/e/p. In paragraph 2 the apostrophe before est survives but a complete C does not. The final g of grands is abraded but identifiable from the foreground bowl and descender in color, without an extra margin word. The first sommes nous has no hyphen, the second sommes-nous does. Both separate question paragraphs, less/more degrees, tous/tout, the reversed grands/petits order and repeated nous remain. Vuide and sentimens stay literal.

T90.The repeated occupation, too-little degree and reversed great/small ordering remain. This is a separate paragraph under the same date, not an independently dated maxim. [It is] broadly renders the incomplete […]’est; the initial French letter is not certified.

T91.The first formulation retains its declarative period and the second repeats it without shortening. Both sufficiently/only restrictions and the reason involving suffering remain. It points to injustice; no means of punishment or recommendation is added. The two [punished] renderings correspond to […]nie and […]unie, while [suffer] corresponds to souf[…]rir. These broad conjectural English brackets do not restore lost French letters; the date remains […]0 juin.

T264.Only final 0 is complete in the day; the preceding broken upright/foot does not certify 1. The first punie opening has incomplete p/u structures before intact nie; the second retains intact unie but not a complete initial p. At souf-/frir, the opening f after the wrap is interrupted, leaving rir complete. No expected letters are supplied. Both repeated restrictive passive constructions, sufficiently, the causal puisque and nothing-so comparison remain. Cruël has two distinct raised e-components in color. The initial En quel sens remains dependent; no question mark is added.

T92.The initial dash, comparison, denied possession and little concern remain. The source’s compressed coordination is not supplied with an explicit new subject or main clause; nobility retains its social and evaluative associations.

T265.The complete 16 is qualified by left abrasion, but its 1 upper slant/stem/foot and 6 loop remain identifiable in color/native 383. The initial dash/comme fragment and negative avoir clause remain, followed by peu and the repeated object relation. Pas is abraded but identifiable; no omitted subject is supplied.

T93.The conditional fragment, heaven’s making, human capacity and final purpose remain. No consequent is invented, and not-to-deceive is not changed into a claim that people never err.

T266.The initial dash and si clause remain without a supplied consequence. The complete com-/prendre wrap has an abraded but identifiable p in color. Affin visibly has doubled f. The perfect a fait, ability and negative purpose remain.

T94.The separate name, nominal comparison and ellipsis remain. Practitioner preserves praticien without choosing a physician or legal practitioner: the complete 1798 Académie entry attests both uses, and this fragment does not determine one uniquely.

T267.The complete 18 is qualified by left abrasion but retains both digit contours. Introductory prose and separately centered roman verse form two paragraphs; the attribution stays on the verse line, with its period inside parentheses. The printed three dots remain. Enuyé visibly has one n; no expected spelling or external verse text replaces it.

T95.The possessive, no-longer/only restriction and frightening judgment remain. Bored provisionally renders enuyé without claiming an independently authenticated Boileau text. This is one separate centered verse paragraph with the parenthetic attribution retained.

T96.Age renders siècle as the professed spirit of an epoch rather than a specified hundred-year period. The repeated question, six landscape elements, two denials of change, outside/inside contrast and few/small limits remain. More so refers contextually to changeability; the plural wills remain distinct from heads. The final pronoun and repeated heads retain the displaced-object emphasis, with future time, perhaps and possible futility. No named contemporaries or political action is supplied. Line up renders the collated allignent; the preliminary allege was corrected because it loses the alignment image. The complete Académie Aligner entry of 1798 gives arranging in a line, including soldiers. Its figurative application to things grouped under a name is contextual here, not a separately attested dictionary example. The senior editor directly read the complete official electronic entry; no dictionary facsimile was inspected.

T97.Head, strength and weakness retain their repeated bodily and intellectual terms. Both trifles, can, even and only remain. Ordinary men renders the collective common run, without converting the maxim into an identified person’s diagnosis. Even modifies the repeated a trifle, corresponding to un rien même, rather than being attached only to the action of changing.

T269.The French source retains plain capital O without an inferred circumflex. The exclamation, repeated head/strength/weakness, repeated un rien, même and restrictive/comparative forms remain. Initial détruire/plus are identifiable in the color margin.

T98.The firm/firmness, constant/inconstancy and weakness/obstinacy word relations remain. Only retains the paradox’s restriction; no conciliatory explanation is supplied.

T270.The repeated firmness/firm and inconstance/constante relations, restriction and two plus phrases remain; con-/stante is a complete wrap. All body text except the specified Latin rubric is roman. The named 851 conservative left residues, five date contours, Greek upper mark/Latin italic comma, cruël/affin/enuyé/allignent spellings and identified remaining initials are retained as the source specialist’s qualified collation findings.