| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: charming of men. I only wish I were more worthy of him.
But what will your excellent father and mother say? Oh!
Heavens! When I think of them I am so agitated!"
Catherine's understanding began to awake: an idea
of the truth suddenly darted into her mind; and, with the
natural blush of so new an emotion, she cried out,
"Good heaven! My dear Isabella, what do you mean? Can
you--can you really be in love with James?"
This bold surmise, however, she soon learnt
comprehended but half the fact. The anxious affection,
which she was accused of having continually watched
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: celebrated artists who are pinched for means, and he substitutes these
true works of arts that are not his own for the wretched daubs in the
collection at Ville d'Avray.
There are many mediocrities more aggressive and more mischievous than
that of Pierre Grassou, who is, moreover, anonymously benevolent and
truly obliging.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Bridau, Joseph
The Purse
A Bachelor's Establishment
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: nature. If I had gained anything, or if my exhortations had been paid,
there would have been some sense in my doing so; but now, as you will
perceive, not even the impudence of my accusers dares to say that I have
ever exacted or sought pay of any one; of that they have no witness. And I
have a sufficient witness to the truth of what I say--my poverty.
Some one may wonder why I go about in private giving advice and busying
myself with the concerns of others, but do not venture to come forward in
public and advise the state. I will tell you why. You have heard me speak
at sundry times and in divers places of an oracle or sign which comes to
me, and is the divinity which Meletus ridicules in the indictment. This
sign, which is a kind of voice, first began to come to me when I was a
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