| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: an adorable mistress; it was this very notion, controlled by honor,
that kept him away from the house. Lisbeth was quick to mark the
significant awkwardness that troubles a man in the presence of a woman
with whom he will not allow himself to flirt.
"Very good-looking--that young man," said she in a whisper to
Hortense.
"Oh, do you think so?" she replied. "I never noticed him."
"Stidmann, my good fellow," said Wenceslas, in an undertone to his
friend, "we are on no ceremony, you and I--we have some business to
settle with this old girl."
Stidmann bowed to the ladies and went away.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: Apostle, 'To what end this perpetual motion? Whither leads this life
divided into zones? Wherefore an intelligence that begins with the
obscure perfection of marble and proceeds from sphere to sphere up to
man, up to the angel, up to God? Where is the Fount, where is the
ocean, if life, attaining to God across worlds and stars, through
Matter and Spirit, has to come down again to some other goal?'
"You desire to see both aspects of the universe at once. You would
adore the Sovereign on condition of being suffered to sit for an
instant on His throne. Mad fools that we are! We will not admit that
the most intelligent animals are able to understand our ideas and the
object of our actions; we are merciless to the creatures of the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: this maternal homily. So, in order to rid himself of his mother, Oscar
had recourse to an heroic measure, which proved how vanity stimulates
the intellect.
"Mamma," he said, "you are standing in a draught, and you may take
cold. Besides, I am going to get into the coach."
The lad must have touched some tender spot, for his mother caught him
to her bosom, kissed him as if he were starting upon a long journey,
and went with him to the vehicle with tears in her eyes.
"Don't forget to give five francs to the servants when you come away,"
she said; "write me three times at least during the fifteen days;
behave properly, and remember all that I have told you. You have linen
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