| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: to that wise man Prodicus;[100] they were a match, you saw, the one
enamoured of philosophy, and the other in need of money. It was you
again, I am well enough aware, who introduced him once again to
Hippias[101] of Elis, from whom he learnt his "art of memory";[102]
since which time he has become a very ardent lover,[103] from
inability to forget each lovely thing he sets his eyes on. And quite
lately, if I am not mistaken, it was you who sounded in my ears such
praise of our visitor from Heraclea,[104] that first you made me
thirst for his society, and then united us.[105] For which indeed I am
your debtor, since I find him a fine handsome fellow and true
gentleman.[106] And did you not, moreover, sing the praises of
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: as she was so small, and her long black hair hung straight down
her back, you might have taken her for a child. She spoke
little, and in a low voice, like gentle music; and she seemed,
wherever she was, to be alone.
Through that soul I seemed to touch and take hold upon the East.
And first there was the wisdom of the East. I have never known
any one who seemed to exist on such "large draughts of
intellectual day" as this child of seventeen, to whom one could
tell all one's personal troubles and agitations, as to a wise old
woman. In the East, maturity comes early; and this child had
already lived through all a woman's life. But there was
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy: began to drink.
"Well, to be sure!" said Christian, half to himself.
"To think I should have been born so lucky as this,
and not have found it out until now! What curious creatures
these dice be--powerful rulers of us all, and yet at my
command! I am sure I never need be afeared of anything
after this." He handled the dice fondly one by one.
"Why, sir," he said in a confidential whisper to Wildeve,
who was near his left hand, "if I could only use this power
that's in me of multiplying money I might do some good
to a near relation of yours, seeing what I've got about me
Return of the Native |
