| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: little domain, the prettiest bit of property in Marsac. The house,
with a garden before it and a yard at the back, was built of white
tufa ornamented with carvings, cut without great expense in that
easily wrought stone, and roofed with slate. The pretty furniture from
the house in Angouleme looked prettier still at Marsac, for there was
not the slightest attempt at comfort or luxury in the country in those
days. A row of orange-trees, pomegranates, and rare plants stood
before the house on the side of the garden, set there by the last
owner, an old general who died under M. Marron's hands.
David was enjoying his holiday sitting under an orange-tree with his
wife, and father, and little Lucien, when the bailiff from Mansle
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: I replied that I was a stranger in Caspak, that I was lost and that
my only desire was to find my way back to my companions. He asked
where they were and I told him toward the south somewhere, using
the Caspakian phrase which, literally translated, means "toward
the beginning." His surprise showed upon his face before he voiced
it in words. "There are no Galus there," he said.
"I tell you," I said angrily, "that I am from another country,
far from Caspak, far beyond the high cliffs. I do not know who
the Galus may be; I have never seen them. This is the farthest
north I have been. Look at me--look at my clothing and my weapons.
Have you ever seen a Galu or any other creature in Caspak who
The Land that Time Forgot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: disturb that society which debars them from its privileges. To
live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate without
adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without tasting the
balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude; it is not
retreat but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many pains, but
celibacy has no pleasures."
"What then is to be done?" said Rasselas. "The more we inquire the
less we can resolve. Surely he is most likely to please himself
that has no other inclination to regard."
CHAPTER XXVII - DISQUISITION UPON GREATNESS.
THE conversation had a short pause. The Prince, having considered
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