| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: that it is something utterly dirty and detestable. We thought it
was the Nemean lion, and we have found it is the Augean stable.
But being bored by war and hating war is quite unproductive
/unless you are thinking about its nature and causes so
thoroughly that you will presently be able to take hold of it and
control it and end it./ It is no good for everyone to say
unanimously, "We will have no more war," unless you have thought
out how to avoid it, and mean to bring that end about. It is as
if everyone said, "We will have no more catarrh," or "no more
flies," or "no more east wind." And my point is that the immense
sorrows at home in every European country and the vast boredom of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: passion which assumed the intensity that women put into their guilty
affections. By a species of occult communion, the secret of which is
in the hearts of mothers, the child comprehended the peril that
threatened him and dreaded the approach of his father. The terrible
scene of which he had been a witness remained in his memory, and
affected him like an illness; at the sound of the count's step his
features contracted, and the mother's ear was not so alert as the
instinct of her child. As he grew older this faculty created by terror
increased, until, like the savages of America, Etienne could
distinguish his father's step and hear his voice at immense distances.
To witness the terror with which the count inspired her thus shared by
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: the majesty of the principality, the laws, the protection of friends
and the state to defend him; so that, adding to all these things the
popular goodwill, it is impossible that any one should be so rash as
to conspire. For whereas in general the conspirator has to fear before
the execution of his plot, in this case he has also to fear the sequel
to the crime; because on account of it he has the people for an enemy,
and thus cannot hope for any escape.
Endless examples could be given on this subject, but I will be content
with one, brought to pass within the memory of our fathers. Messer
Annibale Bentivogli, who was prince in Bologna (grandfather of the
present Annibale), having been murdered by the Canneschi, who had
The Prince |
