| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: buried in the earth for a little space; there it must be hid and
slowly grow, that it may reach maturity. But if it produce the
ear before the jointed stalk, it is imperfect--a thing from the
garden of Adonis. Such a sorry growth art thou; thou hast
blossomed too soon: the winter cold will wither thee away!
CLVI
First of all, condemn the life thou art now leading: but
when thou hast condemned it, do not despair of thyself--be not
like them of mean spirit, who once they have yielded, abandon
themselves entirely and as it were allow the torrent to sweep
them away. No; learn what the wrestling masters do. Has the boy
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: meetings of the lovers resumed.
He first of all took advantage of Rosa's absence to make
himself fully acquainted with all the peculiarities of the
door of her chamber. The lock was a double one and in good
order, but Rosa always took the key with her.
Boxtel at first entertained an idea of stealing the key, but
it soon occurred to him, not only that it would be
exceedingly difficult to abstract it from her pocket, but
also that, when she perceived her loss, she would not leave
her room until the lock was changed, and then Boxtel's first
theft would be useless.
The Black Tulip |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: At this moment the quadrille was coming to an end. Montcornet had only
time to withdraw, saying to himself by way of consolation, "She is
married."
"Well, valiant Cuirassier," exclaimed the Baron, drawing the Colonel
aside into a window-bay to breathe the fresh air from the garden, "how
are you getting on?"
"She is a married woman, my dear fellow."
"What does that matter?"
"Oh, deuce take it! I am a decent sort of man," replied the Colonel.
"I have no idea of paying my addresses to a woman I cannot marry.
Besides, Martial, she expressly told me that she did not intend to
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