| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: are to wield those weapons -- the modern working class -- the
proletarians.
In proportion as the bourgeoisie, i.e., capital, is developed,
in the same proportion is the proletariat, the modern working
class, developed -- a class of labourers, who live only so long
as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour
increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves
piece-meal, are a commodity, like every other article of
commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of
competition, to all the fluctuations of the market.
Owing to the extensive use of machinery and to division of
The Communist Manifesto |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: Wilson went on:
"Those are the simple facts. My note was now lying in a different
place on the table from where I had left it. I noticed that, but
attached no importance to it, thinking a draught had blown it there.
That Mr. Billson would read a private paper was a thing which could
not occur to me; he was an honourable man, and he would be above
that. If you will allow me to say it, I think his extra word 'VERY'
stands explained: it is attributable to a defect of memory. I was
the only man in the world who could furnish here any detail of the
test-mark--by HONOURABLE means. I have finished."
There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: Very well. He has done it. Perhaps he can ride. But there is a way
of looking at a halter that would provoke the most charitable of saints
into a kick.
"I had no idea why he wanted to be sociable, but as we chatted in there
it suddenly occurred to me the fellow was trying to get at something--
in fact, pumping me. He alluded constantly to Europe, to the people I was
supposed to know there--putting leading questions as to my acquaintances
in the sepulchral city, and so on. His little eyes glittered like mica discs--
with curiosity--though he tried to keep up a bit of superciliousness.
At first I was astonished, but very soon I became awfully curious
to see what he would find out from me. I couldn't possibly imagine
Heart of Darkness |
