| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: some little time upon his knees in a frame of mind which perhaps we
are allowed to pity. His vanity, within his iron bosom, bled and
raved. If he could have blotted all, if he could have withdrawn
part, if he had not called her bride - with a roaring in his ears,
he thus regretfully reviewed his declaration. He got to his feet
tottering; and then, in that first moment when a dumb agony finds a
vent in words, and the tongue betrays the inmost and worst of a man,
he permitted himself a retort which, for six weeks to follow, he was
to repent at leisure.
'Ah,' said he, 'the Countess? Now I perceive the reason of your
Highness's disorder.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: down on the market-place and drive the men off to fight.' [This
passage does not occur in the present text of Sun Tzu.] If I had
not placed my troops in a position where they were obliged to
fight for their lives, but had allowed each man to follow his own
discretion, there would have been a general debandade, and it
would have been impossible to do anything with them." The
officers admitted the force of his argument, and said: "These
are higher tactics than we should have been capable of." [See
CH`IEN HAN SHU, ch. 34, ff. 4, 5.] ]
59. For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm's
way that is capable of striking a blow for victory.
The Art of War |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: office.
NON-COMBATANT, n. A dead Quaker.
NONSENSE, n. The objections that are urged against this excellent
dictionary.
NOSE, n. The extreme outpost of the face. From the circumstance that
great conquerors have great noses, Getius, whose writings antedate the
age of humor, calls the nose the organ of quell. It has been observed
that one's nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of
others, from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that
the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.
There's a man with a Nose,
The Devil's Dictionary |
