| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Philebus by Plato: for a new moral world which has no marrying and giving in marriage, there
is no greater disagreement in theory about the right relations of the sexes
than about the composition of water. These and a few other simple
principles, as they have endless applications in practice, so also may be
developed in theory into counsels of perfection.
To what then is to be attributed this opinion which has been often
entertained about the uncertainty of morals? Chiefly to this,--that
philosophers have not always distinguished the theoretical and the
casuistical uncertainty of morals from the practical certainty. There is
an uncertainty about details,--whether, for example, under given
circumstances such and such a moral principle is to be enforced, or whether
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: without scruple. No chief commanded them; no one member could arrogate
to himself that power. The most eager passion, the most exacting
circumstance, alone had the right to pass first. They were Thirteen
unknown kings,--but true kings, more than ordinary kings and judges
and executioners,--men who, having made themselves wings to roam
through society from depth to height, disdained to be anything in the
social sphere because they could be all. If the present writer ever
learns the reasons of their abdication of this power, he will take
occasion to tell them.[*]
[*] See Theophile Gautier's account of the society of the "Cheval
Rouge." Memoir of Balzac. Roberts Brothers, Boston.
Ferragus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: I am lucky. THAT--with the waggon--was a very near thing. God
spoils us.
"We two," he went on, after a pause, "are among the most
fortunate people alive. We are both rich and easily rich.
That gives us freedoms few people have. We have a vision of
the whole world in which we live. It's in a mess--but that is
by the way. The mass of mankind never gets enough education
to have even a glimpse of the world as a whole. They never
get a chance to get the hang of it. It is really possible for
us to do things that will matter in the world. All our time
is our own; all our abilities we are free to use. Most
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