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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1823

Those who have only commonplace thoughts and flat brains should use only the first words that come and the flattest expressions: it is in [?] their nature. But brilliant expressions are natural to those whose memory is adorned, whose heart is moved, whose mind is enlightened and penetrating.

To seek out? he was saying. I seek out the right expression a great deal, I seek out the simple expression a great deal, I seek out a great deal the expression most suited to the subject under discussion, to the thought one has of it, to the feeling that animates one, to what precedes and follows, to the place awaiting the word.

If you speak of the natural — there is the vulgar natural, there is the exquisite natural. The natural is what conforms to essence. Habit is not nature; and the best is not everything that presents itself first, but what must remain always.

May 8.

God, you who... threaten for this purpose, that you may spare. (Eve of the Ascension.)

Urgency, insistence, frequency, perseverance and obstinacy in prayer. Efficacy promised to it.

May 12.

“A jet of water (as Batteux says very well), a jet of water has a movement that shines and does not advance.” — He says: “A jet of water shines in the air and does not advance.” There is the text.

May 21.

Sound and safe. N. is safe, but he is not sound.

May 24.

See in Rabelais (in Rabelais? — yes, in Rabelais) chapter 45 of book III of his inconceivable Pantagruel, “how Gargantua shows that it is not lawful for children to marry without the knowledge and consent of their fathers and mothers.” This whole chapter is admirable.

Etymologies: “by sound, by sense, by origin, by essence and by accident.”

May 25.

The “nixa” I shall return.

What objects one must occupy the mind with — and what... one must never occupy it with. What... one must occupy it with for a moment, and what... one must occupy it with for a long time. Of what it must have an idea and retain little memory. Impress strongly upon it only what is good to imitate.

May 28.

“So much can each, taken in its color, if one makes its nuances flower and if one in some way forces them to bring all their tints to light, crown itself with rays.” One can say almost as much of everything visible. Let us say, then: “So much can each object in its color, if one makes its nuances flower and if one in some way forces them to bring all their tints to light, crown itself with rays.

T26.Both only restrictions, literal brain flatness, superlative, first-to-come and the four final qualities remain. Printed [?] stays immediately after in, where the source editor marks uncertainty about dans; it is not a translator’s new query. English repeats whose to make the four qualities clear without adding their causes. Both source plattes forms retain their literal double t. The entire paragraph, including the printed query, remains roman.

T107.Both literal plattes forms retain double t. The printed roman [?] follows dans and is a source-editor uncertainty marker, not a reproduction gap. Both restrictive constructions, superlative expressions and all four concluding qualities remain. All wrapped word openings/endings are identifiable; no lexical restoration is supplied.

T27.All three I-seek-out repetitions and a-great-deal intensifiers remain, with the five relations and final waiting place. The unnamed speaker and imperfect saying remain. This paragraph crosses onto 912 without a new unit or date.

T108.Paragraph 1 continues directly from the final à on page 911 into la pensée on page 912, with no inserted punctuation. All three Je/je recherche beaucoup repetitions and the five successive relations remain. The first question mark and separate disoit-il sentence are printed; this reporting imperfect is not a unique habitual-tense assertion. Paragraph 2 begins at the distinct Si vous indentation on page 912. Both il y a clauses, dash, semicolon, habit/nature distinction and first/always contrast remain. All continuation starts and wraps are complete and roman.

T28.The conditional opening, repeated there-is and natural, vulgar/exquisite contrast, essence and habit/nature distinction remain. First versus always and must retain their force; the technical noun use of natural is deliberately not replaced by easy spontaneity.

T30.The Latin Deus qui... ad hoc minaris ut parcas is freshly translated, retaining the relative opening, ellipsis and purpose. English makes the second-person prayer address explicit with you before who; both threaten and may spare follow the Latin second person. The liturgical circumstance remains inline in this paragraph, separate from the date. The whole translated Latin sentence, including its period, is italic. The parenthetic circumstance and its inside period remain roman in the body, without duplicate date display. The three points are printed ellipsis, not an image-loss marker; May 8 remains the complete date.

T109.The complete 8, literal Latin words and printed three-point ellipsis remain. The entire Latin sentence through the period is italic. The full parenthetic circumstance is roman and inline, with its period inside the parenthesis; it is not a separate dated paragraph or a calendar-derived correction.

T31.All five terms remain distinct, including the forceful obstinacy. The two nominal sentences and passive promised remain; this is not recast as an external theological guarantee.

T110.The five separate nouns and second nominal sentence remain, with no main predicate supplied. The complete line-ending la and all other edge words are readable; all text is roman.

T32.Both quoted formulations, the repeated initial jet, very well, movement in the first and in the air in the second remain. English adds a comma after the parenthesis. The second is Joubert’s stated correction; no external Batteux text is substituted or authenticated. Both quotation periods are already inside their closing marks in French and remain there in English. The entire paragraph is roman.

T33.The paired qualities, deliberate reversal in the second sentence and negative remain. Sound gives sain its health/integrity sense while retaining the familiar English idiom in source order; N. stays opaque.

T112.The complete 21, ordered sain/sauf pair and inverted sauf/sain clause retain the negative. Opaque N. is not expanded; the whole paragraph is roman.

T34.The repeated astonished name, imperative, precise source chapter/book, inconceivable and whole remain. The old French title is translated freshly; knowledge/consent and fathers/mothers stay distinct. No external chapter verification or modern legal claim is added. English adds a comma before the quoted title and moves its period inside the closing mark. The title, quotation and surrounding prose remain roman. French preserves literal inconcevable, remonstre, n’estre, de enfans, soy, seu and adveu; the ordinary line wraps introduce no lexical gaps.

T35.All five by phrases remain, with sound/sense distinct and accident opposed to essence. The quotation is not attributed to an invented source. French retains literal Etimologies with plain initial E and i after t. The final period is already inside the source quotation. All text remains roman.

T36.The quoted opaque nixa is retained without expansion or imposed Latin sense. The abrupt first-person future remains, now with the terminal period retained from the canonical source. No object or preposition is supplied. This short roman paragraph and the following longer paragraph share the complete May 25 date.

T115.The short first paragraph ends with a definite baseline period after reviendrai in both original-size color and native 444. Quoted nixa remains opaque and roman; no syntactic completion or object/preposition is supplied. The separately indented second paragraph retains three printed ellipses, all de quels repetitions, never/moment/longuement distinctions and the final restrictive infinitive Ne lui imprimer...que. No reproduction gap is inferred at the ellipses; all text is roman.

T37.The repeated introductory fragments, never, moment/long-time distinction, idea/little-memory distinction and final only restriction remain. No missing objects are supplied at the ellipses, and the singular mind remains the pronoun’s antecedent. The final English imperative renders the directive infinitive Ne lui imprimer...que without weakening its only restriction. English supplies the comma after for a moment before the coordinated clause. All three ellipses are printed, not reproduction losses.

T38.Both related formulations, the first taken and second object, flowering, in-some-way, all, self-crowning and almost-as-much remain. The second quotation opens and ends with a period but no closing quotation mark in the canonical source; its English counterpart remains unclosed. English front-loads can to make the repeated emphatic Tant construction readable without removing its degree; the plural them/their contextually refers to nuances. Both formulations repeat if one in the second coordinated condition, preserving the source’s repeated si on. English omits the first formulation’s comma before “and if”; the second source formulation has no comma there. The complete May 28 date remains.