| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: budding happiness, and destroyed its prospects of life. Maximilien's
apparent indifference, and a woman's smile, had wrung from her one of
those sarcasms whose treacherous zest always let her astray.
"Mademoiselle," said Longueville, in a low voice, under cover of the
noise made by the ladies as they rose from the table, "no one will
ever more ardently desire your happiness than I; permit me to assure
you of this, as I am taking leave of you. I am starting for Italy in a
few days."
"With a Duchess, no doubt?"
"No, but perhaps with a mortal blow."
"Is not that pure fancy?" asked Emilie, with an anxious glance.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: never deviating from that aim, by bringing all our actions to bear on
it, all our ideas, our cajolery, we subjugate these eminently
capricious natures, which, by the very mutability of their thoughts,
lend us the means of influencing them."
"Good heavens!" cried the young wife in dismay. "And this is life. It
is a warfare----"
"In which we must always threaten," said the Duchess, laughing. "Our
power is wholly factitious. And we must never allow a man to despise
us; it is impossible to recover from such a descent but by odious
manoeuvring. Come," she added, "I will give you a means of bringing
your husband to his senses."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: of them."
Up went Jo, and knocked smartly on the door of Laurie's
little study.
"Stop that, or I'll open the door and make you!" called out
the young gentleman in a threatening tone.
Jo immediately knocked again. The door flew open, and in
she bounced before Laurie could recover from his surprise. Seeing
that he really was out of temper, Jo, who knew how to manage him,
assumed a contrite expression, and going artistically down upon
her knees, said meekly, "Please forgive me for being so cross. I
came to make it up, and can't go away till I have."
Little Women |
