| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: war should get rid of all the domestic troubles before proceeding
to attack the external foe."]
3. After that, comes tactical maneuvering, than which there
is nothing more difficult.
[I have departed slightly from the traditional
interpretation of Ts`ao Kung, who says: "From the time of
receiving the sovereign's instructions until our encampment over
against the enemy, the tactics to be pursued are most difficult."
It seems to me that the tactics or maneuvers can hardly be said
to begin until the army has sallied forth and encamped, and
Ch`ien Hao's note gives color to this view: "For levying,
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: last produced an almost painful impression.
There was a certain harmony between the man and his name. The Z.
preceding Marcas, which was seen on the addresses of his letters, and
which he never omitted from his signature, as the last letter of the
alphabet, suggested some mysterious fatality.
MARCAS! say this two-syllabled name again and again; do you not feel
as if it had some sinister meaning? Does it not seem to you that its
owner must be doomed to martyrdom? Though foreign, savage, the name
has a right to be handed down to posterity; it is well constructed,
easily pronounced, and has the brevity that beseems a famous name. Is
it not pleasant as well as odd? But does it not sound unfinished?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare: To teach you gamut in a briefer sort,
More pleasant, pithy, and effectual,
Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.
BIANCA.
Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
HORTENSIO.
Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
BIANCA.
'Gamut' I am, the ground of all accord,
'A re,' to plead Hortensio's passion;
The Taming of the Shrew |
