| 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: d'Arthez, Rastignac, and the Princesse de Cadignan. Counting the
mistress of the house, there were as many men as women.
Chance never exerted itself to make wiser preparations than those
which opened the way to a meeting between d'Arthez and Madame de
Cadignan. The princess is still considered one of the chief
authorities on dress, which, to women, is the first of arts. On this
occasion she wore a gown of blue velvet with flowing white sleeves,
and a tulle guimpe, slightly frilled and edged with blue, covering the
shoulders, and rising nearly to the throat, as we see in several of
Raffaele's portraits. Her maid had dressed her hair with white
heather, adroitly placed among its blond cascades, which were one of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles: The ills it shrouds or soon will bring to light,
Ills wrought of malice, not unwittingly.
The worst to bear are self-inflicted wounds.
CHORUS
Grievous enough for all our tears and groans
Our past calamities; what canst thou add?
SECOND MESSENGER
My tale is quickly told and quickly heard.
Our sovereign lady queen Jocasta's dead.
CHORUS
Alas, poor queen! how came she by her death?
Oedipus Trilogy |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: She still floated between the fear of having lost her son and the hope
of his suddenly appearing.
The night was horribly silent. There was one dreadful moment for the
countess, when the battalion of recruits passed through the town, and
went to their several billets. Every step, every sound, was a hope,--
and a lost hope. After that the stillness continued. Towards morning
the countess was obliged to return to her room. Brigitte, who watched
her movements, was uneasy when she did not reappear, and entering the
room she found her dead.
"She must have heard that recruit walking about Monsieur Auguste's
room, and singing their damned Marseillaise, as if he were in a
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