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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1819

Of the mind that is only beautiful and the mind that is powerful. The mind that is only beautiful knows how to adorn only what it thinks; the beautiful and powerful mind knows also how to beautify everything the others have thought. The mind that is only beautiful lives on its own resources; the beautiful and powerful mind has the gift of assimilating to itself the substance of all the others. It feeds on everything, and everything becomes its own. It makes everything its own.

The higher logic that needs no argument, but convinces through the turn alone or through the arrangement alone that it knows how to give its reasons.

The earliest writers write poetically by nature, and the latest arrivals by necessity. They are poetic in order to be brief and to awaken and satisfy satiety.

February 24.

They call the diminution of credulity “the progress of lights.” But if this diminution of credulity (or of the disposition to believe what the most learned, the most virtuous or the oldest say) produces only an increase in personal presumption, in confidence in one’s own judgment, in resistance to the judgment of others, then surely “the lights,” instead of the progress supposed, will soon all be extinguished.

February 26.

Justice beyond laws and dominating them. Truth beyond facts. Wisdom above reason. Philosophy consisting in developing and justifying our intellectual instincts, and not in opposing them... Natural faith.

A people’s greatest need is to be governed, and its greatest happiness to be well governed.

Peace of soul is worth more than curiosity and than all the other ambitions.

Of the Self. There is a good self and a bad self, a broad self and a narrow self, a miserly self and a prodigal self, a self that concentrates itself within itself and a self that extends into everything. There is, finally, the self of great and beautiful souls and the self of ugly and small souls. The former have pleasures and loves that are praiseworthy, and the others indifferences and severities that are blameworthy. The one kind approaches the angels, and the other the black spirits. Everything is colors in the former and everything lividity in the latter.

That: “the virtues are matters of precept.” And indeed, “be gentle and humble of heart”: is this counsel or a precept?

February 28.

Better fitted to appreciate them than to equal them.

Monday, March 1.

All evil comes from matter, and all our bad actions come from our freedom.

Great saints can be great sinners because they are men, that is to say, because they are free. Freedom explains all faults, all crimes, all misfortunes. But it also makes all merits.

A pope is free, a monk is free, kings and cardinals are free; let us therefore not be astonished that kings, cardinals, monks and even popes have done evil.

T34.Every restriction and repeated beautiful/powerful phrase remains. Resources renders fonds without introducing money alone. The substance, feeding and assimilation images remain, including the apparently redundant last two sentences. French retains both literal scait forms and embélir, with an acute é and one l. English supplies a comma before and in It feeds on everything, and everything becomes its own; no such comma is printed before et. The whole passage is roman.

T141.The repeated nominal topic and all restrictive/comparative and possessive relations remain, including both final sentences. The two scait forms have ordinary dot-like i marks in color/native 423; literal embélir has an acute e and a single l, not normalized embellir. Fonds retains s. All left starts are identifiable despite show-through; the complete L’es-/prit wrap introduces no loss.

T35.The relative fragment remains without a supplied main predicate. Singular argument, both alone terms and the turn/arrangement alternative remain. Turn preserves tournure’s shaping of expression without narrowing it to a logical trick. The repeated through renders both printed par forms. French retains literal scait. The terminal period closes the relative fragment without supplying a main predicate.

T142.The relative fragment remains without a supplied main predicate. Singular argument, repeated par, sole qualifications and literal scait remain; all line starts and the terminal period are identifiable.

T36.The nature/necessity contrast and both purposes remain. The strange awaken and satisfy satiety is preserved without changing satiety into appetite or identifying a particular period. French retains poëtiquement and poëtiques with qualified diaereses on e. Both printed pour phrases have their own English to; the passage remains roman.

T37.Lights keeps lumières’ repeated illumination metaphor through the final extinguishing while also suggesting enlightenment. The full parenthesis, three superlatives, three increases, only, surely and all remain. Judgment renders sens in the paired own/others phrases; the conditional statement is not made categorical. The complete date is 24 février. French retains savans. English reorders the opening object and places its sentence period inside the closing quotation mark; the later comma is likewise placed inside the closing quotation mark in American usage. The English then makes the consequence explicit without altering the source conditional or future.

T144.The complete 24 and full conditional parenthesis remain, with all three plus forms, repeated de, restrictive ne...que and future seront. Savans retains its historical spelling. In the French source, both quotations and their external comma remain; crédu-/lité is a complete wrap. Color retains the left starts despite faint show-through.

T38.All five nominal fragments remain. Beyond and above stay distinct, as do developing and justifying; the negative contrast and ellipsis remain without supplying an omitted argument. The date 26 février is complete. The three dots are printed punctuation, not a reproduction-loss marker. French retains loix and unhyphenated au delà and au dessus. All five formulations are roman.

T145.The complete 26 precedes five nominal formulations. Au delà/au dessus remain unhyphenated; loix retains x. The repeated à, negative contrast and printed three-dot ellipsis remain. Con-/trarier is a complete wrap without a reproduction loss.

T39.The repeated greatest, need/happiness distinction and additional well remain. The second predicate retains its compression without an added political qualification. The English comma before and is supplied; French has no comma before et.

T146.The repeated superlative and governed forms remain; bien distinguishes the second compressed predicate. No comma is printed before et; no new finite verb is supplied in French.

T40.The comparison, both than phrases and all the other remain; curiosity is not softened into a neutral modern research practice.

T41.The initial capital Self, repeated lower-case self, all opposed pairs and finally remain. Former/others and one kind/the other refer to the souls, not newly invented people. The plural loves, indifferences and severities remain. Colors/lividity preserves the final difficult contrast rather than replacing it with a psychological explanation.

T148.Initial Moi is capitalized; the repeated following moi forms are lowercase and roman. The five contrasted pairs, finally, plural pleasures/loves and feminine referring forms remain. Con-/centre, pre-/mières and s’ap-/prochent are complete wraps. The final nominal lividité clause remains without a supplied second est.

T42.The initial subordinate That remains a fragment. The quotation is freshly translated from the French, without consulting an English Bible. Counsel/precept and the question remain; a colon replaces the French comma before the final question for English clarity. English places the first period inside the closing quotation mark and supplies the comma after indeed; the source period follows its first closing guillemet and has no comma after effet. English be is number-neutral, while French soyez and humbles are plural. Both quotation openings remain lowercase, and all text is roman.

T149.The initial subordinate Que, colon and two lowercase quotation openings remain. In the French source, the first period and second comma follow their closing guillemets; no punctuation is inserted after effet. The imperative is plural, with literal humbles. Final question mark is complete; all main 891 text is roman. The source specialist’s facsimile collation records the page 891 left starts, two complete dates, scait/embélir and paired poëtiquement/poëtiques marks, source quotation punctuation and nine single-paragraph boundaries, with all stated individual reading qualifications retained.

T43.The comparative fragment and both them pronouns remain without naming their referents or supplying an I.

T150.The complete 28 precedes a comparative fragment with two unresolved les referents; no subject is supplied.

T44.Both all terms and the repeated comes/come relation remain. Evil and bad actions stay distinct; the philosophical assertion is not explained away. English supplies the comma before and. The complete Monday March 1 date, with raised er in French 1ᵉʳ, governs this paragraph and the separate following paragraph.

T151.The full weekday and numeral 1 with raised er are complete. Two distinct indented paragraphs share this date; no intervening heading or separate date is inferred. The first paragraph contrasts singular vient with plural viennent. The second preserves can, both because clauses, four all terms and the final aussi. C’est à dire is unhyphenated. Right-edge actions/qu’ils/explique/aussi retain complete foreground contours despite the page fold.

T45.The separate paragraph keeps can, both because clauses, repeated great and four all terms. Makes retains fait’s compressed causal force rather than substituting a different theory of merit. French c’est à dire remains unhyphenated; the two paragraphs share one date rather than acquiring separate headings.

T46.The repeated free, changed order of the four groups and inclusive negative exhortation remain. And makes the third predicate’s coordination explicit in English; even remains attached to popes.