From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Dust
poussière
Dust can make apparent mass seem slight, or hinder the movement of something light.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDust can make apparent mass seem slight, or hinder the movement of something light.
- In JoubertThe earth imagined as a fiery globe wears only a sprinkling of dust, while water forms a few lines over it.
- In this editionThe English translation keeps the matter as dust rather than turning it into abstract insignificance or impurity.
- A place to beginDust is a slight covering in an image of the earth.
- English renderings
- dust
Meaning
Dust can make apparent mass seem slight, or hinder the movement of something light. Smallness alone does not determine whether it is favorable.
Use in the book
The earth imagined as a fiery globe wears only a sprinkling of dust, while water forms a few lines over it. That formulation makes the dusty surface slight in relation to the globe of fire suspended in air. Another passage distinguishes elevated subtlety from dust’s flight: airborne earth is said to be no longer what it ought to be. The bee fragment gives dust an obstructive role, alongside moisture on its wings. Its comparison remains unfinished, so the reader should not assign it a definite soul, writer, or doctrine as the missing subject.
Places to read
- I, p. 149, entry 7, ¶1Dust is a slight covering in an image of the earth.
- I, p. 414, entry 10, ¶1Flying dust is distinguished from appropriately subtle elevated things.
- II, p. 630, entry 10, ¶1Dust and moisture hinder a bee’s flight in an unfinished comparison.
Translation in this edition
The English translation keeps the matter as dust rather than turning it into abstract insignificance or impurity. It retains the open “Like the bee” construction. The cosmological and zoological formulations remain Joubert’s images and assertions, not newly verified physical facts.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 149, 414; II, pp. 630.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Dust
dust; dust of the streets
Dust names the ordinary, low-valued material of the street.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDust names the ordinary, low-valued material of the street.
- In TraherneTraherne remembers dust appearing as precious as gold to his infant eyes.
- In this editionThe comparison concerns perceived worth, not a claim that dust is materially transformed into gold.
- A place to beginAdult reason esteems street dust more highly than the infant comparison with gold.
Meaning
Dust names the ordinary, low-valued material of the street. Its very commonness makes it an exacting test of whether the world is truly being enjoyed.
Use in the book
Traherne remembers dust appearing as precious as gold to his infant eyes. The adult claim goes further: reason now finds it more precious. Childhood is therefore an opening perception that mature understanding can recover and strengthen. In the fuller childhood scene, dust and stones share the glory of trees, people, and the light of day. Their value belongs to a world received as treasure before restrictive habits of ownership take hold. The comparison does not make money the final measure of worth; it overturns the preference for a king’s treasury over the rough and common gifts in which God is present.
Places to read
In this edition
The comparison concerns perceived worth, not a claim that dust is materially transformed into gold.