| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: his depths are not in front, but behind; he is inscrutable, you never
see what he is making for. Whereas du Tillet's cunning, as Napoleon
said to somebody (I have forgotten the name), is like cotton spun too
fine, it breaks."
"I do not myself see that Nucingen has any advantage over du Tillet,"
said Blondet, "unless it is that he has the sense to see that a
capitalist ought not to rise higher than a baron's rank, while du
Tillet has a mind to be an Italian count."
"Blondet--one word, my boy," put in Couture. "In the first place,
Nucingen dared to say that honesty is simply a question of
appearances; and secondly, to know him well you must be in business
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: confess all. And I would never confess. I would run away before I
gave Sis such a chance at me. I would run away, but first I would
kill Carter Brooks.
Yes, I was driven to thoughts of murder. It shows how the first
false step leads down and down, to crime and even to death. Oh
never, never, gentle reader, take that first False Step. Who knows
to what it may lead!
"One false Step is never retreived." Gray--On a Favorite Cat.
I reflected also on how the woman in the book had ruined her life
with a letter. "The written word does not change," she had said. "It
remains always, embodying a dead truth and giving it apparent life."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: time, or you never will. Try to ask yourself."
"I will, but you must listen. And this hand, which I am holding, is to
lie in mine as long as my narrative is truthful."
"I am listening," said Marianna.
"A woman's life begins with her first passion," said Andrea. "And my
dear Marianna began to live only on the day when she first saw Paolo
Gambara. She needed some deep passion to feed upon, and, above all,
some interesting weakness to shelter and uphold. The beautiful woman's
nature with which she is endowed is perhaps not so truly passion as
maternal love.
"You sigh, Marianna? I have touched one of the aching wounds in your
Gambara |
