| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: you? Mere goodness of disposition is nothing; those only are worthy of
honour who combine with the knowledge of what is right the faculty of
expounding it;'[27] and so by bringing the young to look upon himself
as a superlatively wise person gifted with an extraordinary capacity
for making others wise also, he so worked on the dispositions of those
who consorted with him that in their esteem the rest of the world
counted for nothing by comparison with Socrates."
[26] See Grote, "H. G." v. 535.
[27] Cf. Thuc. ii. 60. Pericles says, "Yet I with whom you are so
angry venture to say of myself, that I am as capable as any one of
devising and explaining a sound policy."--Jowett.
The Memorabilia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: she compared the two--compared them, as they had always stood in
her estimation, from the time of the latter's becoming known to her--
and as they must at any time have been compared by her, had it--
oh! had it, by any blessed felicity, occurred to her, to institute
the comparison.--She saw that there never had been a time when she
did not consider Mr. Knightley as infinitely the superior, or when
his regard for her had not been infinitely the most dear. She saw,
that in persuading herself, in fancying, in acting to the contrary,
she had been entirely under a delusion, totally ignorant of her
own heart--and, in short, that she had never really cared for Frank
Churchill at all!
Emma |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: "The children are waking up, Santa!" he cried. "They are waking up to
find their stockings empty! Ho, ho! How they will quarrel, and wail,
and stamp their feet in anger! Our caves will be full today, old
Santa! Our caves are sure to be full!"
But to this, as to other like taunts, Santa Claus answered nothing.
He was much grieved by his capture, it is true; but his courage did
not forsake him. And, finding that the prisoner would not reply to
his jeers, the Daemon of Malice presently went away, and sent the
Daemon of Repentance to take his place.
This last personage was not so disagreeable as the others. He had
gentle and refined features, and his voice was soft and pleasant in tone.
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
