| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: to prove its advantages.
"There is one place where you can learn what kings will fetch in the
market; where nations are weighed in the balance and systems
appraised; where the value of a government is stated in terms of the
five-franc piece; where ideas and beliefs have their price, and
everything is discounted; where God Himself, in a manner, borrows on
the security of His revenue of souls, for the Pope has a running
account there. Is it not there that I should go to traffic in souls?"
Castanier went quite joyously on 'Change, thinking that it would be as
easy to buy a soul as to invest money in the Funds. Any ordinary
person would have feared ridicule, but Castanier knew by experience
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: the artists of Paris would all regain by excessive labor what they
have lost by idleness, and vainly seek to reconcile the world and
glory, money and art. To begin with, the artist is ceaselessly panting
under his creditors; his necessities beget his debts, and his debts
require of him his nights. After his labor, his pleasure. The comedian
plays till midnight, studies in the morning, rehearses at noon; the
sculptor is bent before his statue; the journalist is a marching
thought, like the soldier when at war; the painter who is the fashion
is crushed with work, the painter with no occupation, if he feels
himself to be a man of genius, gnaws his entrails. Competition,
rivalry, calumny assail talent. Some, in desperation, plunge into the
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: "Pat he's the sheriff. I reckon, Miss Majesty, thet sheriffs are
new to you, an' fer sake of the West I'll explain to you thet we
don't hev many of the real thing any more. Garrett, who killed
Billy the Kid an' was killed himself near a year or so ago--he
was the kind of sheriff thet helps to make a self-respectin'
country. But this Pat Hawe--wal, I reckon there's no good in me
sayin' what I think of him. He come into the hall, an' he was
roarin' about things. He was goin' to arrest Danny Mains on
sight. Wal, I jest polite-like told Pat thet the money was mine
an' he needn't get riled about it. An' if I wanted to trail the
thief I reckon I could do it as well as anybody. Pat howled thet
The Light of Western Stars |
