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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1817

In religion, everything that nourishes in us our love for God and in God his great love for us. In morality or in civility, everything that nourishes in others their love for us and in us our love for others. In a word, to love God and make oneself loved by him, to love our fellow beings and make oneself loved by them. That is morality and religion. In both, love is everything: end, principle and means.

To love and make oneself agreeable.

October 24.

That, in an ecclesiastical body, union is formed by the rule and by participation in a distinctive, shared life. But in a lay or almost lay body, this union can come about only through some synthesis or through shared participation in a distinctive opinion, attachment to which becomes a bond. Thus from the principle of ecclesiastical bodies, which is the rule, true regular communities or orders are formed; from the principle of other bodies, only sorts of sects or parties can be formed.

Subtleties without charms, without liveliness, without lightness; heavy and dark, born of cold and ponderous minds.

What is observed in the M-zv-ll-n, that “true witticisms surprise those who make them as much as those who hear them.” They are born in us despite ourselves, or at least without our voluntary participation, like everything inspired. (See the passage cited, concerning Mrs. de Cornuël.)

October 27.

The fact is that most facts (in history) are only opinions; but most opinions (in philosophers) are certain facts, for it is certain that they held them.

When books are of such a kind and so numerous that they occupy attention more than things do and more than the world does...

October 30.

Everything that increases mind and life...

Or, to put it better, to favor (in education) everything that nourishes in us the principle of mind and life that we carry within us. And notice that I say everything that nourishes the principle. I say the principle and not the development. For hasty development ruins the germ.

October 31.

The Neckers and their school.

I. That is (if one dares speak so) to show a thought through what can be most inward in it, and with all its intestines.

II. Before them, truth had sometimes been told with laughter. They always tell it with tears, or at least with sighs, with groans (but with half-sighs or half-groans). To hear them, all truths are sad or melancholy. Thus Mr. de Pange wrote to me “sad as truth.” No light gladdens them, no beauty makes them bloom; everything draws them inward. Their poetics is Heraclitean. They can be read well only with an affected, emotional accent and, so to speak, to the sound of flutes.

(Quotidienne, July 13, 1817, Ruche d’Aquitaine (Baroness de S...): “It was a poetry of looks, accents and gestures...” Not so badly said for a madwoman.)

November 2.

The Greek curse: “May you have the desire to build.” There is [a] more terrible wish to direct against a people, in morals, in [politics] and in religion: “May you have the desire to destroy and [demolish].”

November […].

Religion. So true that one would have to submit to it even if it were not good; so good that one would have to keep it even if it were not true.

Voltaire. Sometimes he is sad, he is moved; but he is never serious.

T85.The opening nominal formulations and reciprocal nourishment remain, including the unusual nourishment of God’s love. Civility is distinguished from morality. The repeated infinitives and three final functions remain; English uses a colon to introduce the source’s final comma-separated list.

T200.Two physical paragraphs remain in one undated unit. The two initial nominal relative constructions, all reciprocating possessives/prepositions, both reflexive causatives, paired domains and final three nouns remain. The final infinitives form their own paragraph. The source collation records the 865 partial first day, qualified complete 20 and later dates, opaque code, lost opening before ête, qualified complete other left starts, plaît upper mark and both Latin italic extents, with the individual reading qualifications retained.

T86.The two infinitives remain a separate paragraph within the same entry, without an added object or sentence.

T87.The dependent That, repeated union, lay/almost-lay qualification, alternatives and restrictions remain. Distinctive renders singulière contextually rather than solitary, since the life is shared. Regular retains the connection to a religious rule, not merely ordinary or frequent; the final sects/parties alternatives remain.

T201.The complete 24 remains. The initial Que is retained as a dependent opening. Both laïc forms have paired i marks; the two kinds of association, relative clauses, restrictive constructions and semicolon remain.

T88.All three without phrases and the weight, darkness and cold images remain. The nominal fragment is not assigned to an author.

T202.The nominal formulation, three sans phrases, paired qualities, semicolon and literal agrémens/pesans remain.

T89.The opening dependent formulation and complete quotation remain. The opaque cited title is retained, and See the passage cited translates Vid. loc. cit. without creating an invented link. Despite/or-at-least, voluntary and the birth metaphor remain. English places the quoted full stop inside the quotation, whereas the source prints it outside.

T203.The opaque baseline M-zv-ll-n and its punctuation remain without expansion. Cornuël has two raised e components; Mme is baseline. The unexpanded Vid. loc. cit. reference remains roman and unidentified. The source’s nominal opening/que construction, relative groups, autant comparison, concessive alternatives and quoted wording remain. In the French source, the quote’s terminal point is outside its closing guillemet; the reference’s point is inside the final parenthesis.

T90.The explanatory opening, two most terms, first only and both parentheses remain. Held them identifies the relation of philosophers to their opinions; certainty concerns that relation rather than the opinions’ truth. The repeated fact/opinion structure remains.

T204.The complete 27 governs two physical paragraphs. Both la plupart statements, parenthetic domains and inverse fact/opinion relations remain. Euës has paired e marks supported by color and native 398. The second paragraph keeps the dependent Quand opening, tels/si qualification, comparative plus and both que comparisons, ending in three printed dots without a supplied consequence. Opi-/nions and l’at-/tention are complete wraps.

T91.The dependent When, kind and number, two comparisons and terminal ellipsis remain. English repeats do/does to keep the comparative relation clear without completing the thought.

T92.The nominal formulation and trailing ellipsis remain. Mind retains esprit without narrowing it to wit.

T205.The complete 30 governs two paragraphs. The first ends in three printed dots. The second retains its corrective Ou, infinitive, parenthesis, imperative and explicit principle/development contrast. In the French source, the first italic span begins with tout, unlike the provisional map shorthand, and ends with the period after principe. The separately repeated le principe is the third literal occurrence in the paragraph. Le développement is italic through its period; the following explanatory Car sentence is roman.

T93.The explicit self-correction, educational parenthesis, first-person emphasis and repeated principle/development remain. Nourishment and germ preserve the organic image; principle is not silently replaced by a fully developed faculty.

T94.The plural name and school remain a separate opening paragraph; no family members are supplied.

T206.The complete 31 governs four physical paragraphs: the opening designation, I, II and the separate bibliographical parenthesis. The internal 13 July 1817 issue date is not a new main date. Both demi- compounds, literal gémissemens/accens/héraclitienne, plain A, paired e marks in poëtique/poësie and flûtes circumflex remain. In the French source, the first quote’s period is outside; the later quoted three dots remain inside. S... is an opaque printed initial and ellipsis, not a current reproduction gap. Only Quotidienne is italic together with its adjoining comma; the surrounding parenthesis, date, Ruche d’Aquitaine and remaining quotation/prose are roman. The intimate relation between the title and comma remains a qualified reading of the available reproduction.

T95.The Roman number, daring parenthesis, superlative inwardness and deliberately visceral intestines remain. The image is not smoothed to inner workings. Can retains the potential force of peut avoir, rather than presenting the inwardness as an unqualified fact.

T96.The past/present contrast, sometimes/always, at-least qualification, half measures and all/none/only restrictions remain. Bloom and inward movement retain the physical images of épanouit and concentre. English uses a semicolon before everything and moves the quotation’s period inside. Heraclitean stays an unexplained source characterization, without a newly asserted allusion or doctrine. To me retains the explicit first-person recipient in m’écrivoit; no separately located letter is claimed.

T97.The whole bibliographic parenthesis remains its own main paragraph. Quotidienne and its adjoining comma form the italic span; both named publications are retained without invented links. The incomplete name and quoted ellipsis remain, as does Joubert’s disparaging final phrase, which is not an editorial diagnosis. The July date belongs to the citation.

T98.The two wishes, comparative more terrible, three domains and final paired verbs remain. This one paragraph crosses from page 866 to 867; no new entry or paragraph is created at the page break. English places each quoted period inside its quotation; the source’s attribution to Greek usage is not independently established. The canonical […]n, poli[…]ique and […]émolir mark three current reproduction losses. English [a], [politics] and [demolish] are contextual counterparts covering those incomplete words; they do not claim recovered French letters or printed source-editor supplements.

T207.The complete 2 and both separate quotations remain. The one paragraph crosses onto 867 without added punctuation or a paragraph break. Both quotation-final periods are inside the guillemets. At the 867 left edge only n, ique and émolir are securely complete. The lower and vertical fragments before them do not certify the missing u, t or d; the three reproduction losses remain explicit. In particular the tall d-like right stem before émolir lacks a complete bowl. No contextual completion is inserted in the French source. The source collation records the 866 opaque code, complete dates, upper marks, italic boundaries and three incoming 867 residue limits, with the individual reading qualifications retained.

T99.The nominal opening and balanced counterfactuals remain. Even if interprets quand in the concessive conditions, without turning either into an assertion that religion is false or bad. The canonical date leaves the entire day […] unknown; no day is inferred from the sequence.

T208.The day preserves only a narrow right-hand lobe/stem remnant, insufficient to certify 3 rather than another digit; the whole day remains unknown. The initial Religion fragment, reciprocal true/good relations, both conditions, both faudroit forms and semicolon remain. The n of ne and e of elle are abraded at the color margin but retain identifiable foreground contours; no extra gap is inserted.

T100.Sometimes and never, the two emotional states and contrasting seriousness remain. This is Joubert’s characterization, without an added biographical judgment.

T209.The nominal opening, two separate present clauses, semicolon and negative jamais remain. The left s of sérieux is softened but identifiable in color.