Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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Facing Pages · Branch 25 of 121
1833 · March 30, 1833
French
p. 49Le 30.
Oh! c’est un beau spectacle à ravir la pensée, que cette immense circulation de vie qui s’opère dans l’ample sein de la nature; de cette vie qui sourd d’une fontaine invisible et gonfle les veines de cet univers. Obéissant à son mouvement d’ascension, elle monte de règne en règne toujours s’épurant et s’ennoblissant, pour faire battre enfin le cœur de l’homme qui est le centre où ses mille courants viennent aboutir de toutes parts. Là elle est mise en contact avec la Divinité; là, comme sur l’autel où l’on brûle l’encens, elle s’évapore, par un sacrifice ineffable, dans le sein de Dieu. Il me semble qu’il y aurait des choses profondes et merveilleuses à dire sur le sacrifice de la nature dans le cœur de l’homme et l’immolation eucharistique dans ce même cœur. La simultanéité de ces deux sacrifices et l’absorption de l’un dans l’autre sur le même autel, ce rendez-vous de Dieu et de toute la création dans l’humanité ouvrirait, ce me semble, de grandes vues en hauteur et en profondeur. Sublimitas et profundum.
The Green Notebook: 1833
p. 50March 30, 1833
Oh, what a beautiful spectacle to carry thought away, that immense circulation of life taking place within nature’s ample breast; that life which wells from an invisible fountain and swells the veins of this universe. Obeying its upward movement, it rises from kingdom to kingdom, forever purifying and ennobling itself, until at last it makes the human heart beat, the center toward which its thousand currents converge from every side. There it is brought into contact with the Divinity; there, as upon the altar where incense burns, it evaporates, through an ineffable sacrifice, into the bosom of God. It seems to me that there would be profound and wonderful things to say about nature’s sacrifice in the human heart and the eucharistic immolation in that same heart. The simultaneity of these two sacrifices, and the absorption of one into the other upon the same altar, this meeting of God and all creation within humanity, would, it seems to me, open great vistas in height and depth. Sublimitas et profundum.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1833 · March 30, 1833
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.