| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: intent.
"Ah, wait!" he bade them. "Is this miserable instrument of a
corrupt system worth the attention of your noble indignation?"
He hoped his words would be reported to M. de Lesdiguieres. He
thought it would be good for the soul of M. de Lesdiguieres to hear
the undiluted truth about himself for once.
"It is the system itself you must attack and overthrow; not a mere
instrument - a miserable painted lath such as this. And precipitancy
will spoil everything. Above all, my children, no violence!"
My children! Could his godfather have heard him!
"You have seen often already the result of premature violence
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: it seemed to me to be a whole life in itself. In 1760 I fell in love
with a lady of the Vendramin family; she was eighteen years old, and
married to a Sagredo, one of the richest senators, a man of thirty,
madly in love with his wife. My mistress and I were guiltless as
cherubs when the /sposo/ caught us together talking of love. He was
armed, I was not, but he missed me; I sprang upon him and killed him
with my two hands, wringing his neck as if he had been a chicken. I
wanted Bianca to fly with me; but she would not. That is the way with
women! So I went alone. I was condemned to death, and my property was
confiscated and made over to my next-of-kin; but I had carried off my
diamonds, five of Titian's pictures taken down from their frames and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: his tent, his blankets, his pack-saddles, and his many
accoutrements for the bridal journey in the mountains. Out of the
window he saw the mountains blue in shadow, but some cottonwoods
distant in the flat between were still bright green in the sun.
From among his possessions he took quickly a pistol, wiping and
loading it. Then from its holster he removed the pistol which he
had tried and made sure of in the morning. This, according to his
wont when going into a risk, he shoved between his trousers and
his shirt in front. The untried weapon he placed in the holster,
letting it hang visibly at his hip. He glanced out of the window
again, and saw the mountains of the same deep blue. But the
The Virginian |
