| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: courageous; and not only who are courageous against pain or fear, but
mighty to contend against desires and pleasures, either fixed in their rank
or turning upon their enemy. There is this sort of courage--is there not,
Laches?
LACHES: Certainly, Socrates.
SOCRATES: And all these are courageous, but some have courage in
pleasures, and some in pains: some in desires, and some in fears, and some
are cowards under the same conditions, as I should imagine.
LACHES: Very true.
SOCRATES: Now I was asking about courage and cowardice in general. And I
will begin with courage, and once more ask, What is that common quality,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain: He shut off sudden. I knowed the reason. It give me the
cold shudders when he said them words, because right away
I remembered about us seeing Uncle Silas prowling around
with a long-handled shovel away in the night that night.
And I knowed Benny seen him, too, because she was talking
about it one day. The minute Tom shut off he changed
the subject and went to begging Uncle Silas to keep mum,
and the rest of us done the same, and said he MUST,
and said it wasn't his business to tell on himself, and if
he kept mum nobody would ever know; but if it was found
out and any harm come to him it would break the family's
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: She keeps an eye on me and won't let me be shabby.
When she thinks I need a new dress, she makes it and sends it
home with a bill that's long enough, I can tell you!'
Tiny limped slightly when she walked. The claim on Hunker
Creek took toll from its possessors. Tiny had been caught
in a sudden turn of weather, like poor Johnson. She lost
three toes from one of those pretty little feet that used to trip
about Black Hawk in pointed slippers and striped stockings.
Tiny mentioned this mutilation quite casually--didn't seem sensitive
about it. She was satisfied with her success, but not elated.
She was like someone in whom the faculty of becoming interested
My Antonia |
