| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: opposite sides of the hearth, the man came back from Valleroy and gave
his master his own letter, unopened.
M. de Nueil went into a small room beyond the drawing-room, where he
had left his rifle, and shot himself.
The swift and fatal ending of the drama, contrary as it is to all the
habits of young France, is only what might have been expected. Those
who have closely observed, or known for themselves by delicious
experience, all that is meant by the perfect union of two beings, will
understand Gaston de Nueil's suicide perfectly well. A woman does not
bend and form herself in a day to the caprices of passion. The
pleasure of loving, like some rare flower, needs the most careful
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: go ahead in the intellectual world they must start with more money
than they need for the tour of Europe," say the speculators.
Consequently there is endless warfare between the recalcitrant public
which refuses to pay the Parisian imposts and the tax-gatherer who,
living by his receipt of custom, lards the public with new ideas,
turns it on the spit of lively projects, roasts it with prospectuses
(basting all the while with flattery), and finally gobbles it up with
some toothsome sauce in which it is caught and intoxicated like a fly
with a black-lead. Moreover, since 1830 what honors and emoluments
have been scattered throughout France to stimulate the zeal and self-
love of the "progressive and intelligent masses"! Titles, medals,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: A Start in Life
The Commission in Lunacy
The Middle Classes
Cousin Pons
Grassou, Pierre
Pierre Grassou
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cousin Betty
The Middle Classes
Cousin Pons
Grindot
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