| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: in the forefront of the contests decided on. If the enemy cared to
join issue in fair field he would not chance upon a victory won by
panic, but in stubborn battle, blow for blow, he mastered him; and set
up trophies worthy of the name, seeing that he left behind him
imperishable monuments of prowess, and bore away on his own body
indelible marks of the fury with which he fought;[1] so that, apart
from hearsay, by the evidence of men's eyes his valour stood approved.
[1] Or, "visible signs of the spirit," etc. See Plut. "Ages." xxxvi.
And amongst these we must not deem them trophies alone which he
actually set up, but reckon the many campaigns which he undertook,
since they were victories truly, even when the enemy refused to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Pellucidarian time--as it would continue to do to the
end of it. Before me, across the wide sea, the weird,
horizonless seascape folded gently upward to meet the
sky until it lost itself to view in the azure depths of
distance far above the level of my eyes.
How strange it looked! How vastly different from
the flat and puny area of the circumscribed vision of
the dweller upon the outer crust!
I was lost. Though I wandered ceaselessly throughout
a lifetime, I might never discover the whereabouts of
my former friends of this strange and savage world.
Pellucidar |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: night.
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. My God! what brought you into my life?
MRS. CHEVELEY. Circumstances. [Moves towards the door.]
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. Don't go. I consent. The report shall be
withdrawn. I will arrange for a question to be put to me on the
subject.
MRS. CHEVELEY. Thank you. I knew we should come to an amicable
agreement. I understood your nature from the first. I analysed you,
though you did not adore me. And now you can get my carriage for me,
Sir Robert. I see the people coming up from supper, and Englishmen
always get romantic after a meal, and that bores me dreadfully.
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