| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: actual power of modifying the temperament and character which
heredity stamps upon every individual.
These conclusions take us far beyond the limit of penal severity,
and at the same time they suffice to combat the objection commonly
raised against those who think, like ourselves, that repressive
justice ought to concern itself not with the punishment of past
crime, but with the prevention of future crime. For whilst the
advocates of severity, and those whom I will call the
``laxativists,'' virtually think (apart from a few platonic
statements) only of punishments as remedies of offences, we on the
other hand believe that punishments are merely secondary
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: simplify to the bare fundamentals of a common faith, hers was the
universalism of the collector. Religion to him was something that
illuminated the soul, to her it was something that illuminated
prayer-books. For a considerable time they followed their
divergent inclinations without any realization of their
divergence. None the less a vague doubt and dissatisfaction with
the prospect before him arose to cloud his confidence.
At first there was little or no doubt of his own faith. He was
still altogether convinced that he had to confess and proclaim
God in his life. He was as sure that God was the necessary king
and saviour of mankind and of a man's life, as he was of the
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: "Does she still come to the Luxembourg?" "No, sir." "This is the church
where she attends mass, is it not?" "She no longer comes here."
"Does she still live in this house?" "She has moved away."
"Where has she gone to dwell?"
"She did not say."
What a melancholy thing not to know the address of one's soul!
Love has its childishness, other passions have their pettinesses.
Shame on the passions which belittle man! Honor to the one which
makes a child of him!
There is one strange thing, do you know it? I dwell in the night.
There is a being who carried off my sky when she went away.
Les Miserables |
