| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Man against the Sky by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Resounding discords, till at last
Llewellyn turned -- as will be seen.
Priscilla, warmer than her name,
And shriller than the sound of saws,
Pursued Llewellyn once too far,
Not knowing quite the man he was.
The more she said, the fiercer clung
The stinging garment of his wrath;
And this was all before the day
When Time tossed roses in his path.
Before the roses ever came
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: the early easiness of his circumstances and acquisition of his fortune,
with all that knowledge that enabled him to be a useful citizen,
and obtained for him some degree of reputation among the learned;
to Sincerity and Justice, the confidence of his country,
and the honorable employs it conferred upon him; and to the joint
influence of the whole mass of the virtues, even in the imperfect
state he was able to acquire them, all that evenness of temper,
and that cheerfulness in conversation, which makes his company
still sought for, and agreeable even to his younger acquaintance.
I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example
and reap the benefit.
 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: explained in a former chapter, by which the materials forming any part or
structure, if not useful to the possessor, will be saved as far as is
possible, will probably often come into play; and this will tend to cause
the entire obliteration of a rudimentary organ.
As the presence of rudimentary organs is thus due to the tendency in every
part of the organisation, which has long existed, to be inherited--we can
understand, on the genealogical view of classification, how it is that
systematists have found rudimentary parts as useful as, or even sometimes
more useful than, parts of high physiological importance. Rudimentary
organs may be compared with the letters in a word, still retained in the
spelling, but become useless in the pronunciation, but which serve as a
 On the Origin of Species |