Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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French Page · Branch 95 of 121
1834 · Le 28.
French
p. 189Le 28.
Tout se brouille au dedans et au dehors. Un immense chaos, la nature, les hommes, la science, l’universalité des choses roule ses flots contre un point isolé comme un écueil dans la mer, mon âme perdue dans l’écume et le bruit... Je soutiens l’assaut d’une onde infinie; combien de temps tiendrai-je ferme ? Si je m’abîme dans votre sein, vagues mystérieuses, m’arrivera-t-il comme à ces chevaliers qui, entraînés au fond des lacs, y rencontraient de merveilleux palais, ou, comme ce pêcheur de la fable, en tombant dans la mer deviendrai-je un dieu?
J’ai douté de moi-même, d’un point imperceptible. Le doute qui couvrait ce point imperceptible a rompu ses limites, il couvre le monde; un atome s’est dilaté sur l’univers entier. Je ne souffrais qu’en moi-même, je souffre en toutes choses.
The Green Notebook: 1834
p. 190September 28, 1834
Everything grows confused within and without. An immense chaos, nature, men, learning, the totality of things rolls its waves against an isolated point like a reef in the sea, my soul lost in foam and noise... I withstand the assault of an infinite wave; how long shall I hold firm? If I sink into your breast, mysterious waves, shall I fare like those knights who, drawn to the bottom of lakes, found marvelous palaces there, or, like that fisherman of the fable, shall I become a god on falling into the sea?
I doubted myself, an imperceptible point. The doubt which covered that imperceptible point has broken its bounds; it covers the world; an atom has expanded over the entire universe. I suffered only within myself; I suffer in all things.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1834 · September 28, 1834
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Maurice de Guérin’s journal moves between close attention to nature, friendship, faith, and the inward demands of poetry. This bilingual edition presents the complete Journal section of the 1864 printing, with a separate appendix of earlier printed passages from 1861.
Historical Text and Translation
The French follows G. S. Trébutien’s sixth edition of Journal, lettres et poèmes (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1864), pages 3–126. Its 116 dated entries run from July 1832 to October 1835. Five earlier passages from Reliquiae (1861) appear separately in the appendix. Completeness refers to the printed Journal, rather than the autograph notebook; the following letters and poems are outside this edition.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent English translation directly from the French, preserving Guérin’s imagery, repetitions, intimate voice, and original paragraph divisions. French and English remain aligned for comparison. Translator’s notes clarify words, quotations, and allusions, while historical editor notes retain their separate attribution. The Essential setting keeps explanations useful to reading; All also includes the note on the edition’s typographic treatment.
Rights
The historical French printings are in the public domain in the United States. The independent English translation and new editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. The linked facsimiles identify the printed witnesses used for this edition. Historical annotations and editorial conjectures remain attributed to their source editors, and the earlier variant passages are presented separately from the later Journal text.