| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Yes, there was the man asleep. Bradley shook him--there was
no response. He stooped lower and in the dim light examined
An-Tak; then he stood up with a sigh. A rat leaped from beneath
the coverings and scurried away. "Poor devil!" muttered Bradley.
He crossed the room to swing himself to the perch preparatory to
quitting the Blue Place of Seven Skulls forever. Beneath the
perch he paused. "I'll not give them the satisfaction," he growled.
"Let them believe that he escaped."
Returning to the pile of rags he gathered the man into his arms.
It was difficult work raising him to the high perch and dragging
him through the small opening and thus down the ladder; but
 Out of Time's Abyss |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: But he's a very nice party. Ay, Pa'son Swancourt knows me pretty
well from often driving over; and I know Pa'son Swancourt.'
They emerged from the bower, swept round in a curve, and the
chimneys and gables of the vicarage became darkly visible. Not a
light showed anywhere. They alighted; the man felt his way into
the porch, and rang the bell.
At the end of three or four minutes, spent in patient waiting
without hearing any sounds of a response, the stranger advanced
and repeated the call in a more decided manner. He then fancied
he heard footsteps in the hall, and sundry movements of the door-
knob, but nobody appeared.
 A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: have succeeded very quickly in his design if in other matters he had
not made some mistakes. The king, however, having acquired Lombardy,
regained at once the authority which Charles had lost: Genoa yielded;
the Florentines became his friends; the Marquess of Mantua, the Duke
of Ferrara, the Bentivogli, my lady of Forli, the Lords of Faenza, of
Pesaro, of Rimini, of Camerino, of Piombino, the Lucchese, the Pisans,
the Sienese--everybody made advances to him to become his friend. Then
could the Venetians realize the rashness of the course taken by them,
which, in order that they might secure two towns in Lombardy, had made
the king master of two-thirds of Italy.
Let any one now consider with that little difficulty the king could
 The Prince |