| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And the whole year's sowing time,
Comes now to the perfect harvest,
And ripens now into rhyme.
For we that sow in the Autumn,
We reap our grain in the Spring,
And we that go sowing and weeping
Return to reap and sing.
IT BLOWS A SNOWING GALE
IT blows a snowing gale in the winter of the year;
The boats are on the sea and the crews are on the pier.
The needle of the vane, it is veering to and fro,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Straight Deal by Owen Wister: England flawless, or any nation a charitable institution, but merely to
be fair, and to consider a cordial understanding between us greatly to
our future advantage. To this he answered, in part, as follows:
"I wish to thank you for your kindly reply.... Your argument is that as a
matter of policy we should conciliate Great Britain. Have we fallen so
low, this great and powerful nation?... Truckling to some other power
because its backing, moral or physical, may some day be of use to us,
even tho' we know that in so doing we are surrendering our dearest
rights, principles, and dignity!... Oh! my dear Sir, you surely do not
advocate this? I inclose an editorial clipping.... Is it no shock to you
when Winston Churchill shouts to High Heaven that under no circumstances
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: "Father and mother of the people."]
7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of
the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be
complete.
[Owing to the double meanings in the Chinese text, the
latter part of the sentence is susceptible of quite a different
meaning: "And thus, the weapon not being blunted by use, its
keenness remains perfect."]
This is the method of attacking by stratagem.
8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the
enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him;
The Art of War |
