| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare: Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.
LVI
Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow sharpened in his former might:
So, love, be thou, although to-day thou fill
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: best artist is not the man who fixes his eye on posterity, but
the one who loves the practice of his art. And instead of
having a taste for being successful merchants and retiring at
thirty, some people have a taste for high and what we call
heroic forms of excitement. If the Admirals courted war like
a mistress; if, as the drum beat to quarters, the sailors came
gaily out of the forecastle, - it is because a fight is a
period of multiplied and intense experiences, and, by Nelson's
computation, worth "thousands" to any one who has a heart
under his jacket. If the marines of the WAGER gave three
cheers and cried "God bless the king," it was because they
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: Laurent [entering]. "Monsieur Fleury is requested to go to the
secretary's office."
All the clerks. "Done for!"
Fleury [leaving the room]. "I don't care; I am offered a place as
responsible editor. I shall have all my time to myself to lounge the
streets or do amusing work in a newspaper office."
Bixiou. "Dutocq has already made them cut off the head of that poor
Desroys."
Colleville [entering joyously]. "Gentlemen, I am appointed head of
this bureau."
Thuillier. "Ah, my friend, if it were I myself, I couldn't be better
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