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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1818

January […].

Minds without souls. The soul governs the head more often and far [better] than the head governs the soul.

January […]4.

In politics, almost all of us are filled with a fire that [does] nothing but agitate us, a light that does nothing but dazzle us.

January […]7.

— who always reason from a word and never from a [thing]. Quibblers, and not reasonable people.

January 24.

Every wise idea keeps man in his place in the universe, and makes him feel that place, and makes him love it like a native place, easy, convenient, familiar.

January 25.

The earth is in spring as early as February; the air is not there yet.

January 28.

In such a case, inconsistency is wisdom, reason, skill, duty.

February 11.

Sedaine’s “I apply myself to never thinking about it.” How many things there are about which one must “apply oneself to never thinking about them,” so as not to lose one’s time, one’s mind and one’s health studying what is useless and impossible to know. To apply oneself to never thinking about impenetrable, dangerous questions, etc.

February 14.

In the trial of Mathurin Bruneau, what his brother-in-law the clogmaker said: “I have only my arms to live by, and when my children do not use theirs to work, I use mine to beat them.”

February 22.

What Mrs. d’Épinay said of Rousseau’s character: “a dwarf mounted on stilts.” She herself ended by having only a mind modeled on Grimm’s. Women cling to what they love and keep its imprint.

February 25.

And indeed (as the Abbé Gratiani had very well observed), no idea can be born except from an object (or an image), that is, only (from a feeling or only) from a sensation (of the inner sense or the external senses). No demonstration can by itself produce any idea because... Demonstration halts the mind, fixes it and does not, properly speaking, enlighten it.

March 6.

Thought comes from the head and the idea comes from objects. The former represents and makes known only our mind; the latter represents things as the mind can see them.

The story of the boat or the shore moving. Which of the two would show more wit or intelligence in the child and give more pleasure. Whether the naïveté of the one would not arouse a more rightful interest than the accuracy of the other.

T1.The opening plural and reciprocal singulars retain three distinct terms, with both comparative qualifications. No missing January day is supplied. The whole English word [better] corresponds to the partly lost […]ieux; no missing French letter is restored.

T251.The separate printed ANNÉE 1818 heading applies from this entry. Only a short broken upright remains before janvier; it does not certify a numeral. In the second line, the first letter retains only part of an arch and detached left material; the complete following residue is ieux. The lost first letter is not restored from comparative syntax. The nominal opening, repeated soul/head relation, plus souvent, bien and comparative ne remain. All main text is roman.

T2.Almost all, the shared filled construction and repeated restrictive does nothing but remain. Neither agitation nor dazzling is converted into uncomplicated illumination. Only the first [does] has a reproduction-loss counterpart in the incomplete French verb […]ait; the broader English bracket does not restore the missing letters.

T252.The terminal 4 is complete; the preceding narrow upright is abraded and lacks sufficiently secure contour to certify its numeral. Before ait no complete initial f survives in either original-size witness. The second fait is intact. Both restrictive constructions, presque tous and paired fire/light images remain.

T3.The initial relative fragment and dash, always/never and word/thing opposition remain. People supplies ordinary English grammar for the substantivized raisonnables; no antecedent is invented. The whole English [thing] corresponds to the incomplete […]hose, without restoring its missing French letter.

T253.The terminal 7 is complete; preceding upright and surrounding show-through do not certify its lost prefix. Before hose only disconnected right-hand components of the initial letter remain; no complete c is certified. The dash-led relative fragment, toujours/jamais opposition and non pas contrast remain.

T4.Every and the three coordinated actions remain. The first that place clarifies the feminine pronoun’s antecedent; later it retains it. All four qualities stay concrete and connected to place, without imposing a social rank.

T5.The early timing and not-yet contrast remain. In spring and there retain the spatial treatment of the season rather than replacing it with a climatic explanation.

T255.The complete 25 and semicolon remain. The first e of encore retains its foreground body despite left-margin show-through. The negative and temporal distinction remain.

T6.The unnamed case and four ordered predicates remain, without resolving the paradox or supplying a precedent.

T256.The complete 28 and four comma-linked predicate nouns remain; no extra conjunction is supplied.

T7.All three apply formulations preserve the deliberate application of effort to not thinking. The two quoted spans remain distinct, with American period/comma placement. The three losses, useless/impossible and final nominal infinitive remain. No external Sedaine passage is identified.

T8.The trial context and reporting fragment, only, temporal when and three possessive references to arms remain. The remark remains a quotation attributed by Joubert, not advice or an independently verified transcript.

T258.The complete 14, Mathurin Bruneau, historical enfans, colon and whole quotation remain. The terminal period is inside the closing guillemet. The report remains a nominal ce que clause; restrictive ne...que, negative subordinate clause and three possessive references are retained.

T9.The attribution, concrete image, herself, ended by and only remain. Cling and imprint preserve the material metaphors of collent and empreintes; the objects of love are not restricted to named people. Joubert’s generalization is retained without an added explanation or endorsement. English moves the quotation’s period inside. English uses the conventional initial accent in Épinay for the printed Epinay.

T259.The complete 22, baseline Mme, plain capital E in Epinay and unhyphenated Elle même remain literal. In the French source, the first period follows the closing guillemet. The left m letters in monté/modelé and a in aiment are degraded but identifiable; no extra gaps are supplied. The restrictive construction and feminine plural final predicate remain.

T10.The four parenthetic passages and awkward repeated only retain the source’s formulation rather than rewriting the feeling/sensation relation. And indeed, prior observation, birth image, negative production and unfinished because remain. The paragraph continues onto 870 before the next separator; the final three actions are not split into another entry. English commas clarify syntax without completing the omitted explanation.

T260.The complete 25 owns one paragraph continuing through both opening lines of 870. All four parentheses, the anomalous internal ou que, unhyphenated c’est à dire, repeated aucune and printed three-point suspension after parce que remain. No page-boundary punctuation or paragraph is inserted. The compact circumflex of naître is qualified from the raised peaked component. All incoming 870 words are complete. The source collation records the 869 damaged date/letter limits, identifiable abraded starts, upper marks and roman typography, with the individual reading qualifications retained.

T11.Thought and idea remain distinct, as do head, objects and mind. The first only applies to both verbs; the last can remains a qualification. English uses a semicolon for the source comma between the opposed clauses.

T261.The complete day 6, repeated vient/représente and restrictive construction remain. Connoître has a compact peaked upper component supporting the qualified circumflex. The detached short horizontal traces above the gap between idée and vient are too high and irregular to certify a printed hyphen; no hyphen is supplied. All right-edge words retain complete identifiable foreground letters.

T12.The compressed alternatives and two conditional inquiries retain the source’s periods rather than acquiring question marks. Wit or intelligence preserves esprit/intelligence, and naïveté remains distinct from accuracy. No particular child or account is supplied.

T262.The plural cheminent, both conditional forms, two comparative quantities and final Si clause retain their printed periods rather than conjectural question marks. Naïveté has two distinct raised i components. The right-edge deux/causeroit/juste remain complete despite shadow.