| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: plenty of old rules which will serve. The real difficulty comes
when we engage in tactical operations." Tu Yu also observes that
"the great difficulty is to be beforehand with the enemy in
seizing favorable position."]
The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the
devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.
[This sentence contains one of those highly condensed and
somewhat enigmatical expressions of which Sun Tzu is so fond.
This is how it is explained by Ts`ao Kung: "Make it appear that
you are a long way off, then cover the distance rapidly and
arrive on the scene before your opponent." Tu Mu says:
 The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: twice as big as England in order: a place full of seditious
coffee-colored heathens and pestilential white agitators in the middle
of a lot of savage tribes. And yet he couldnt keep you in order. I
dont set up to be half the man your father undoubtedly is; but, by
George, it's lucky for you you were not my son. I dont hold with my
own father's views about corporal punishment being wrong. It's
necessary for some people; and I'd have tried it on you until you
first learnt to howl and then to behave yourself.
BENTLEY. _[contemptuously]_ Yes: behavior wouldnt come naturally to
your son, would it?
JOHNNY. _[stung into sudden violence]_ Now you keep a civil tongue
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: sister-in-law, "qu'il avait beaucoup aimee et qui n'avait pas
ete cruelle a son egard."
The evidence recapitulated for the most part the facts already
set out. The description of Mme. Fenayrou by the gentleman on
the sporting newspaper who had succeeded Aubert in her affections
is, under the circumstances, interesting: "She was sad,
melancholy; I questioned her, and she told me she was married to
a coarse man who neglected her, failed to understand her, and had
never loved her. I became her lover but, except on a few
occasions, our relations were those of good friends. She was a
woman with few material wants, affectionate, expansive, an
 A Book of Remarkable Criminals |