| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: even impertinent air betrayed a consciousness of hidden superiority.
His pallid face seemed bloodless, his thin flat nose had the sardonic
expression which we see in a death's head, and his green eyes were
inscrutable; their glance was discreet in meaning just as the thin
closed mouth was discreet in words. The first man seemed on the whole
a good fellow compared with this younger man, who was slashing the air
with a cane, the top of which, made of gold, glittered in the
sunshine. The first man might have cut off a head with his own hand,
but the second was capable of entangling innocence, virtue, and beauty
in the nets of calumny and intrigue, and then poisoning them or
drowning them. The rubicund stranger would have comforted his victim
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Poems of William Blake by William Blake: She ceasd & smild in tears, then sat down in her silver shrine.
Thel answerd, O thou little virgin of the peaceful valley.
Giving to those that cannot crave, the voiceless, the o'er tired
The breath doth nourish the innocent lamb, he smells the milky garments
He crops thy flowers while thou sittest smiling in his face,
Wiping his mild and meekin mouth from all contagious taints.
Thy wine doth purify the golden honey; thy perfume.
Which thou dost scatter on every little blade of grass that springs
Revives the milked cow, & tames the fire-breathing steed.
But Thel is like a faint cloud kindled at the rising sun:
I vanish from my pearly throne, and who shall find my place.
Poems of William Blake |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: understand Nature, and to follow her! Accordingly I ask who is
the Interpreter. On hearing that it is Chrysippus, I go to him.
But it seems I do not understand what he wrote. So I seek one to
interpret that. So far there is nothing to pride myself on. But
when I have found my interpreter, what remains is to put in
practice his instructions. This itself is the only thing to be
proud of. But if I admire the interpretation and that alone, what
else have I turned out but a mere commentator instead of a lover
of wisdom?--except indeed that I happen to be interpreting
Chrysippus instead of Homer. So when any one says to me, Prithee,
read me Chrysippus, I am more inclined to blush, when I cannot
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
