| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: The Giles' edition of the ART OF WAR, as stated above, was a
scholarly work. Dr. Giles was a leading sinologue at the time
and an assistant in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and
Manuscripts in the British Museum. Apparently he wanted to
produce a definitive edition, superior to anything else that
existed and perhaps something that would become a standard
translation. It was the best translation available for 50 years.
But apparently there was not much interest in Sun Tzu in English-
speaking countries since the it took the start of the Second
World War to renew interest in his work. Several people
published unsatisfactory English translations of Sun Tzu. In
The Art of War |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: interesting to a writer is the possession of an inward certitude
that literary criticism will never die, for man (so variously
defined) is, before everything else, a critical animal. And as
long as distinguished minds are ready to treat it in the spirit
of high adventure literary criticism shall appeal to us with all
the charm and wisdom of a well-told tale of personal experience.
For Englishmen especially, of all the races of the earth, a task,
any task, undertaken in an adventurous spirit acquires the merit
of romance. But the critics as a rule exhibit but little of an
adventurous spirit. They take risks, of course--one can hardly
live with out that. The daily bread is served out to us (however
A Personal Record |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: Jane's old, rebellious loyalty clashed with her doubt.
"I won't believe it," she replied, stubbornly.
"Well then, just act natural an' talk natural, an' pretty
soon--give them time to hear us--pretend to go over there to the
table, en' then quick-like make a move for the door en' open it."
"I will," said Jane, with heightened color. Lassiter was right;
he never made mistakes; he would not have told her unless he
positively knew. Yet Jane was so tenacious of faith that she had
to see with her own eyes, and so constituted that to employ even
such small deceit toward her women made her ashamed, and angry
for her shame as well as theirs. Then a singular thought
Riders of the Purple Sage |
