| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: rough and smooth, as she had done, to earn a little bread.'
"She was in a talking mood, and proceeded to inform me how
she had been used in the world. 'She knew what it was to have a
bad husband, or she did not know who should.' I perceived that she
would be very much mortified, were I not to attend to her tale,
and I did not attempt to interrupt her, though I wished her, as
soon as possible, to go out in search of a new abode for me, where
I could once more hide my head.
"She began by telling me, 'That she had saved a little money
in service; and was over-persuaded (we must all be in love once in
our lives) to marry a likely man, a footman in the family, not
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: she is thirty years old, and ugly, and she hasn't a sou; that ought to
suit you."
"I shall have ten millions two years from now," said Philippe Bridau.
"It is now the 16th of January, 1829," cried du Tillet, laughing. "I
have been hard at work for ten years and I have not made as much as
that yet."
"We'll take counsel of each other," said Bridau; "you shall see how
well I understand finance."
"How much do you really own?" asked Nucingen.
"Three millions, excluding my house and my estate, which I shall not
sell; in fact, I cannot, for the property is now entailed and goes
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: Monsieur Brousson has often told it to me; and he has just been seized
with one."
"What is the nature of the disease?" asked an examining-judge.
"Oh, it is something terrible, monsieur," she replied. "The doctors
know no remedy. It causes the most dreadful suffering. One day, while
the unfortunate man was staying at my country-house, he had an attack,
and I was obliged to go away and stay with a neighbor to avoid hearing
him; his cries were terrible; he tried to kill himself; his daughter
was obliged to have him put into a strait-jacket and fastened to his
bed. The poor man declares there are live animals in his head gnawing
his brain; every nerve quivers with horrible shooting pains, and he
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