Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
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English Page · Branch 94 of 121
1834 · September 26, 1834
French
p. 187Le 26.
J’accepte avec une passiveté assez résignée le coup des espérances lancées qui reviennent sur moi. Je commence à m’inquiéter assez peu de la marche extérieure de ma vie et du plus ou moins d’agrément que je rencontrerai dans mon chemin. Quand j’ai du pain selon ma faim et de l’eau à ma soif, je dois, plus que tout autre, me contenter et me taire. Oisif et tout à fait superflu dans la société, je n’ai droit, dans la distribution commune, qu’à la portion rigoureusement nécessaire au soutien de ma vie.
The Green Notebook: 1834
p. 188September 26, 1834
With a fairly resigned passivity, I accept the blow of launched hopes which fall back upon me. I begin to care rather little about the outward course of my life and the greater or lesser pleasantness I shall meet upon my path. When I have bread for my hunger and water for my thirst, I must, more than anyone, be content and hold my peace. Idle and entirely superfluous in society, I have a right, in the common distribution, only to the portion strictly necessary to sustain my life.
Socrates
Reading The Green Notebook · 1834 · September 26, 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.