| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: discourse; but then when one has a question to ask of any of them, like
books, they can neither answer nor ask; and if any one challenges the least
particular of their speech, they go ringing on in a long harangue, like
brazen pots, which when they are struck continue to sound unless some one
puts his hand upon them; whereas our friend Protagoras can not only make a
good speech, as he has already shown, but when he is asked a question he
can answer briefly; and when he asks he will wait and hear the answer; and
this is a very rare gift. Now I, Protagoras, want to ask of you a little
question, which if you will only answer, I shall be quite satisfied. You
were saying that virtue can be taught;--that I will take upon your
authority, and there is no one to whom I am more ready to trust. But I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: give no reason for it," he went on, wiping the palms of his hands.
"I should get into trouble, and do no good. They would think I was
mad. This is the way it would work,--Message: 'Danger! Take
care!' Answer: 'What Danger? Where?' Message: 'Don't know.
But, for God's sake, take care!' They would displace me. What
else could they do?"
His pain of mind was most pitiable to see. It was the mental
torture of a conscientious man, oppressed beyond endurance by an
unintelligible responsibility involving life.
"When it first stood under the Danger-light," he went on, putting
his dark hair back from his head, and drawing his hands outward
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: " 'But you are not, for you are talking.'
" 'I swear I am, Monsieur Grabu.'
" 'I will soon find out,' the old man replied, and double-locking
the door, he went down to get a light.
"Then the young man, who was a coward such as one sometimes
meets, lost his head, and he repeated, having grown furious all
of a sudden: 'Hide yourself, so that he may not find you. You
will deprive me of my bread for my whole life; you will ruin my
whole career! Do hide yourself!'
"They could hear the key turning in the lock again, and Hortense
ran to the window which looked out on to the street, opened it
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