| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Heap O' Livin' by Edgar A. Guest: If I were pressed to do him ill, to conjure up a
plan
To wound him sorely and to rob his days of all
their joy,
I'd wish his wife would go away and take their
little boy.
I'd waste no time on curses vague, nor try to
take his gold,
Nor seek to shatter any plan that he might
dearly hold.
A crueler revenge than that for him I would
A Heap O' Livin' |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: by this time he would have been a rear-admiral; finally, his
Excellency quoted I know not what degree of forfeiture. I took
this step, to which I was urged by my friends, only for the sake
of my poor Adelaide. I have always hated the idea of holding out
my hand as a beggar in the name of a grief which deprives a woman
of voice and strength. I do not like this money valuation for
blood irreparably spilt----"
"Dear mother, this subject always does you harm."
In response to this remark from Adelaide, the Baronne Leseigneur
bowed, and was silent.
"Monsieur," said the young girl to Hippolyte, "I had supposed
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of
the country--its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and
precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn
natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides.
[These three sentences are repeated from VII. SS. 12-14 --
in order to emphasize their importance, the commentators seem to
think. I prefer to regard them as interpolated here in order to
form an antecedent to the following words. With regard to local
guides, Sun Tzu might have added that there is always the risk of
going wrong, either through their treachery or some
misunderstanding such as Livy records (XXII. 13): Hannibal, we
The Art of War |
