| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: the sunshine of their presence,--aides-de-camp entrusted with delicate
missions, allowing themselves to be compromised if necessary; workers
round the pedestal of the idol; not exactly his servants, nor yet his
equals; bold in his defence, first in the breach, covering all
retreats, busy with his business, and devoted to him just so long as
their illusions last, or until the moment when they have got all they
wanted. Some of these satellites perceive the ingratitude of their
great man; others feel that they are simply made tools of; many weary
of the life; very few remain contented with that sweet equality of
feeling and sentiment which is the only reward that should be looked
for in an intimacy with a superior man,--a reward that contented Ali
Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: and, for fourteen miles, every bitter feeling was rendered
more severe by the review of objects on which she had
first looked under impressions so different. Every mile,
as it brought her nearer Woodston, added to her sufferings,
and when within the distance of five, she passed the
turning which led to it, and thought of Henry, so near,
yet so unconscious, her grief and agitation were excessive.
The day which she had spent at that place had
been one of the happiest of her life. It was there,
it was on that day, that the general had made use of such
expressions with regard to Henry and herself, had so spoken
Northanger Abbey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: have it carried down to your carriage. And if, armed with such a
talisman, you are not your husband's mistress for a hundred years, you
are not a woman, and you deserve your fate."
Augustine kissed the Duchess' hand, and the lady clasped her to her
heart, with all the more tenderness because she would forget her by
the morrow. This scene might perhaps have destroyed for ever the
candor and purity of a less virtuous woman than Augustine, for the
astute politics of the higher social spheres were no more consonant to
Augustine than the narrow reasoning of Joseph Lebas, or Madame
Guillaume's vapid morality. Strange are the results of the false
positions into which we may be brought by the slightest mistake in the
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