| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of
carrying it on.
[That is, with rapidity. Only one who knows the disastrous
effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of
rapidity in bringing it to a close. Only two commentators seem
to favor this interpretation, but it fits well into the logic of
the context, whereas the rendering, "He who does not know the
evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits," is distinctly
pointless.]
8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy,
neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: was repurchased by Henri IV. when that great king so far blundered as
to restore the fief; and in exchange, the Rusticoli--who had borne
arms long before the Medici bore them to-wit, /argent/ a cross flory
/azure/ (the cross flower-de-luced by letters patent granted by
Charles IX.), and a count's coronet, with two peasants for supporters
with the motto IN HOC SIGNO VINCIMUS--the Rusticoli, I repeat,
retained their title, and received a couple of offices under the crown
with the government of a province.
"From the time of the Valois till the reign of Richelieu, as it may be
called, the Rusticoli played a most illustrious part; under Louis XIV.
their glory waned somewhat, under Louis XV. it went out altogether. My
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: darkening twilight? A flash, and then the thunder of a gun at sea.
Mrs. Leigh stopped. The flash was right outside the bar. A ship
in distress it could not be. The wind was light and westerly. It
was a high spring-tide, as evening floods are always there. What
could it be? Another flash, another gun. The noisy folks of
Northam were hushed at once, and all hurried into the churchyard
which looks down on the broad flats and the river.
There was a gallant ship outside the bar. She was running in, too,
with all sails set. A large ship; nearly a thousand tons she might
be; but not of English rig. What was the meaning of it? A Spanish
cruiser about to make reprisals for Drake's raid along the Cadiz
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