| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: "I came to ask you. My Ranee smiles when looking at the man she
loves. It is the white woman that is crying now. You would
know."
Almayer shrugged his shoulders and turned away again towards the
sea.
"Go, Tuan Putih," urged Dain. "Go to her; her tears are more
terrible to me than the anger of gods."
"Are they? You will see them more than once. She told me she
could not live without you," answered Almayer, speaking without
the faintest spark of expression in his face, "so it behoves you
to go to her quick, for fear you may find her dead."
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: Then his eyes wavered, all his expression changed, and in a voice
unusually gentle, almost coaxingly:
"May I come in to take the empty cup away, sir?"
"Of course!" I turned my back on him while he popped in and out.
Then I unhooked and closed the door and even pushed the bolt.
This sort of thing could not go on very long. The cabin was as hot
as an oven, too. I took a peep at my double, and discovered
that he had not moved, his arm was still over his eyes; but his
chest heaved; his hair was wet; his chin glistened with perspiration.
I reached over him and opened the port.
"I must show myself on deck," I reflected.
The Secret Sharer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: Little rivers seem to have the indefinable quality that belongs to
certain people in the world,--the power of drawing attention
without courting it, the faculty of exciting interest by their very
presence and way of doing things.
The most fascinating part of a city or town is that through which
the water flows. Idlers always choose a bridge for their place of
meditation when they can get it; and, failing that, you will find
them sitting on the edge of a quay or embankment, with their feet
hanging over the water. What a piquant mingling of indolence and
vivacity you can enjoy by the river-side! The best point of view
in Rome, to my taste, is the Ponte San Angelo; and in Florence or
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