| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: the French call the "Grief muscle"? The eyebrow in this state
becomes slightly oblique, with a little swelling at the Inner end;
and the forehead is transversely wrinkled in the middle part, but not
across the whole breadth, as when the eyebrows are raised in surprise.
(6.) When in good spirits do the eyes sparkle, with the skin a little
wrinkled round and under them, and with the mouth a little drawn back
at the corners?
(7.) When a man sneers or snarls at another, is the corner of the upper
lip over the canine or eye tooth raised on the side facing the man
whom he addresses?
(8) Can a dogged or obstinate expression be recognized,
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: them, as if your mind had kept firm hold of your responsibility
during the hours of sleep.
You contemplate mentally your mischance, till little by little your
mood changes, cold doubt steals into the very marrow of your bones,
you see the inexplicable fact in another light. That is the time
when you ask yourself, How on earth could I have been fool enough
to get there? And you are ready to renounce all belief in your
good sense, in your knowledge, in your fidelity, in what you
thought till then was the best in you, giving you the daily bread
of life and the moral support of other men's confidence.
The ship is lost or not lost. Once stranded, you have to do your
The Mirror of the Sea |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: and regarded it as a meritorious deed to accept the degradation in
which her husband placed her. The fulfilment of his will never once
caused her to murmur. The timid sheep went henceforth in the way the
shepherd led her; she gave herself up to the severest religious
practices, and thought no more of Satan and his works and vanities.
Thus she presented to the eyes of the world a union of all Christian
virtues; and du Bousquier was certainly one of the luckiest men in the
kingdom of France and of Navarre.
"She will be a simpleton to her last breath," said the former
collector, who, however, dined with her twice a week.
This history would be strangely incomplete if no mention were made of
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