| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: better than women. And I say that these things ought not to be done by
those of us who have a reputation; and if they are done, you ought not to
permit them; you ought rather to show that you are far more disposed to
condemn the man who gets up a doleful scene and makes the city ridiculous,
than him who holds his peace.
But, setting aside the question of public opinion, there seems to be
something wrong in asking a favour of a judge, and thus procuring an
acquittal, instead of informing and convincing him. For his duty is, not
to make a present of justice, but to give judgment; and he has sworn that
he will judge according to the laws, and not according to his own good
pleasure; and we ought not to encourage you, nor should you allow
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: "But of my daughter you are not afraid?" said Almayer.
"Have you not heard me?" she exclaimed. "Have I not spoken for a
long time when you lay there with eyes half open? She is gone
too."
"I was asleep. Can you not tell when a man is sleeping and when
awake?"
"Sometimes," answered Taminah in a low voice; "sometimes the
spirit lingers close to a sleeping body and may hear. I spoke a
long time before I touched you, and I spoke softly for fear it
would depart at a sudden noise and leave you sleeping for ever.
I took you by the shoulder only when you began to mutter words I
Almayer's Folly |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: Habit has made us indifferent to the spectacle of those pretty
little animal machines, which work so nimbly and with such
precision; we pay no attention, so simple does it all appear to us.
Science examines and looks at things differently. She says to
herself:
'Nothing is made with nothing. The chick feeds itself; it consumes
or rather it assimilates and turns the food into heat, which is
converted into energy.'
Were any one to tell us of a chick which, for seven or eight months
on end, kept itself in condition for running, always fit, always
brisk, without taking the least beakful of nourishment from the day
The Life of the Spider |
