| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: human speech and the lesser varieties of language which arise out of the
many degrees and kinds of human intercourse, there is also the unknown or
over-ruling law of God or nature which gives order to it in its infinite
greatness, and variety in its infinitesimal minuteness--both equally
inscrutable to us. We need no longer discuss whether philology is to be
classed with the Natural or the Mental sciences, if we frankly recognize
that, like all the sciences which are concerned with man, it has a double
aspect,--inward and outward; and that the inward can only be known through
the outward. Neither need we raise the question whether the laws of
language, like the other laws of human action, admit of exceptions. The
answer in all cases is the same--that the laws of nature are uniform,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: of her, Mrs Ramsay would ask him (Lily could hear her) wouldn't he like
a coat, a rug, a newspaper? No, he wanted nothing. (Here he bowed.)
There was some quality in her which he did not much like. It was
perhaps her masterfulness, her positiveness, something matter-of-fact
in her. She was so direct.
(A noise drew her attention to the drawing-room window--the squeak of a
hinge. The light breeze was toying with the window.)
There must have been people who disliked her very much, Lily thought
(Yes; she realised that the drawing-room step was empty, but it had no
effect on her whatever. She did not want Mrs Ramsay now.)--People who
thought her too sure, too drastic.
To the Lighthouse |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain: that he gets discouraged. But you bet you, this is the business!
People don't wait for examples to die. No, sir, they drop off
right along--there ain't any dull spots in the undertaker line.
I just started in with two or three little old coffins and
a hired hearse, and now look at the thing! I've worked up
a business here that would satisfy any man, don't care who he is.
Five years ago, lodged in an attic; live in a swell house now,
with a mansard roof, and all the modern inconveniences.'
'Does a coffin pay so well. Is there much profit on a coffin?'
'Go-way! How you talk!' Then, with a confidential wink, a dropping
of the voice, and an impressive laying of his hand on my arm;
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