| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: had a view of the blue lagoon, above the opposite rough-tiled housetops.
They were all dusty and even a little disfigured with long neglect,
but I saw that by spending a few hundred francs I should be able
to convert three or four of them into a convenient habitation.
My experiment was turning out costly, yet now that I had all
but taken possession I ceased to allow this to trouble me.
I mentioned to my companion a few of the things that I should put in,
but she replied rather more precipitately than usual that I might
do exactly what I liked; she seemed to wish to notify me that the
Misses Bordereau would take no overt interest in my proceedings.
I guessed that her aunt had instructed her to adopt this tone, and I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: "Billy," he began at last, and stopped again. "Billy, in this
country somehow one wants to talk like a Russian. Billy, my dear--
I'm not your father, I'm not your judge. I'm--unreasonably fond of
you. It's not my business to settle what is right or wrong for you.
If you want to stay in Moscow, stay in Moscow. Stay here, and stay
as my guest. . . ."
He stopped and remained staring at his friend for a little space.
"I didn't know," said Prothero brokenly; "I didn't know it was
possible to get so fond of a person. . . ."
Benham stood up. He had never found Prothero so attractive and so
abominable in his life before.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli: blame him, but rather it appears to be, as I have said, that I ought
to offer him for imitation to all those who, by the fortune or the
arms of others, are raised to government. Because he, having a lofty
spirit and far-reaching aims, could not have regulated his conduct
otherwise, and only the shortness of the life of Alexander and his own
sickness frustrated his designs. Therefore, he who considers it
necessary to secure himself in his new principality, to win friends,
to overcome either by force or fraud, to make himself beloved and
feared by the people, to be followed and revered by the soldiers, to
exterminate those who have power or reason to hurt him, to change the
old order of things for new, to be severe and gracious, magnanimous
The Prince |
