| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: agreeable flirt. There is exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent
spirit, in making a person predetermined to dislike acknowledge one's
superiority. I have disconcerted him already by my calm reserve, and it
shall be my endeavour to humble the pride of these self important De
Courcys still lower, to convince Mrs. Vernon that her sisterly cautions
have been bestowed in vain, and to persuade Reginald that she has
scandalously belied me. This project will serve at least to amuse me, and
prevent my feeling so acutely this dreadful separation from you and all
whom I love.
Yours ever,
S. VERNON.
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: Attica, to begin with, he will not invade at all, unless supported by
other cavalry besides his own and an infantry force sufficient to
warrant the supposition that no force on our side can cope with him.
[1] The reference is doubtless to the Thebans. Unfortunately we do not
know, on good authority, how many troops of either arm they had in
the field at Leuctra or at Mantinea.
[2] Lit. "without the rest of the city," i.e. the hoplites, etc.
Now, to deal with this vast hostile array, if only the city will
determine to sally out en masse to protect her rural districts, the
prospect is fair. Under God, our troopers, if properly cared for, are
the finer men; our infantry of the line are no less numerous, and as
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: of public affairs. This without reckoning in the pains of the heart.
And so it goes on. One cloud is dispelled, another forms.
There is hardly one day out of a hundred which is wholly joyous
and sunny. And you belong to that small class who are happy!
As for the rest of mankind, stagnating night rests upon them.
Thoughtful minds make but little use of the phrase: the fortunate
and the unfortunate. In this world, evidently the vestibule
of another, there are no fortunate.
The real human division is this: the luminous and the shady.
To diminish the number of the shady, to augment the number
of the luminous,--that is the object. That is why we cry:
Les Miserables |
