| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: of forty, with a keen, frank glance which always seeks your eyes.
He greets me by a low, hearty, "He, l'ami. Comment va?" With
his clipped moustache and massive open face, energetic and at the
same time placid in expression, he is a fine specimen of the
southerner of the calm type. For there is such a type in which
the volatile southern passion is transmuted into solid force. He
is fair, but no one could mistake him for a man of the north even
by the dim gleam of the lantern standing on the quay. He is
worth a dozen of your ordinary Normans or Bretons, but then, in
the whole immense sweep of the Mediterranean shores, you could
not find half a dozen men of his stamp.
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: " 'Oh, well, you are mistaken, Gigonnet; I am in for three hundred
thousand francs. I meant to speculate in Spanish bonds.'
" 'Then you have saved your money. Spanish bonds would have swept
everything away; whereas I am prepared to offer you something like
fifty per cent for your account with Nucingen.'
" 'You are very keen about it, it seems to me,' said Matifat. 'I never
knew a banker yet that paid less than fifty per cent. Ah, if it were
only a matter of ten per cent of loss--' added the retired man of
drugs.
" 'Well, will you take fifteen?' asked Gigonnet.
" 'You are very keen about it, it seems to me,' said Matifat.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tanach: 2_Chronicles 10: 5 And he said unto them: 'Come again unto me after three days.' And the people departed.
2_Chronicles 10: 6 And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying: 'What counsel give ye me to return answer to this people?'
2_Chronicles 10: 7 And they spoke unto him, saying: 'If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.'
2_Chronicles 10: 8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him.
2_Chronicles 10: 9 And he said unto them: 'What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying: Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us lighter?'
2_Chronicles 10: 10 And the young men that were grown up with him spoke unto him, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spoke unto thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them: My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.
2_Chronicles 10: 11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.'
2_Chronicles 10: 12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying: 'Come to me again the third day.'
2_Chronicles 10: 13 And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men,
2_Chronicles 10: 14 and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying: 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you 
The Tanach |
