| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: man to observe the restraint of persons who live in the world
perpetually; but as his eccentricities of thought bore the mark of
originality, no one felt inclined to complain. This zest, this
piquancy, rare in mere talent, this youthfulness and simplicity of
soul which made d'Arthez so nobly original, gave a delightful charm to
this evening. He left the house with Rastignac, who, as they drove
home, asked him how he liked the princess.
"Michel did well to love her," replied d'Arthez; "she is, indeed, an
extraordinary woman."
"Very extraordinary," replied Rastignac, dryly. "By the tone of your
voice I should judge you were in love with her already. You will be in
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: at a safe distance behind I followed the flicker of their torch.
The way led through a maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted
save for the wavering light they carried. We had gone
perhaps a hundred yards when the party turned abruptly
through a doorway at their right. I hastened on as rapidly as
I dared through the darkness until I reached the point at
which they had left the corridor. There, through an open
door, I saw them removing the chains that secured the great
Thark, Tars Tarkas, to the wall.
Hustling him roughly between them, they came immediately
from the chamber, so quickly in fact that I was near to
The Gods of Mars |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: years of age, unable to decide on a satisfactory date. The
Cardinal d'Herouville flourished in the history of the Church at
least a century before the cardinal of whom we boast as our only
family glory,--for I take no account of lieutenant-generals, and
abbes who write trumpery little verses.
Moreover, I do not live in the magnificent villa Vilquin; there is
not in my veins, thank God, the ten-millionth of a drop of that
chilly blood which flows behind a counter. I come on one side from
Germany, on the other from the south of France; my mind has a
Teutonic love of reverie, my blood the vivacity of Provence. I am
noble on my father's and on my mother's side. On my mother's I
Modeste Mignon |
