| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: now attached. The ambitious Raoul heard the cracking in all directions
of his prosperous edifice, built, alas! without foundations. His nerve
failed him; too weak already to sustain so vast an enterprise, he felt
himself incapable of attempting to build it up again; he was fated to
perish in its ashes. Love for the countess gave him still a few
thrills of life; his mask brightened for a moment, but behind it hope
was dead. He did not suspect the hand of du Tillet, and laid the blame
of his misfortune on the usurer. Rastignac, Blondet, Lousteau, Vernou,
Finot, and Massol took care not to enlighten him. Rastignac, who
wanted to return to power, made common cause with Nucingen and du
Tillet. The others felt a satisfaction in the catastrophe of an equal
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: mitted that the sound was pleasant, soft, musical--
but, in conjunction with his looks perhaps, it was
startling--so excitable, so utterly unlike anything
one had ever heard. The village boys climbed up
the bank to have a peep through the little square
aperture. Everybody was wondering what Mr.
Swaffer would do with him.
"He simply kept him.
"Swaffer would be called eccentric were he not
so much respected. They will tell you that Mr.
Swaffer sits up as late as ten o'clock at night to
Amy Foster |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: anything that would do us good. Then would be clearly seen that we did but
love and desire the good because of the evil, and as the remedy of the
evil, which was the disease; but if there had been no disease, there would
have been no need of a remedy. Is not this the nature of the good--to be
loved by us who are placed between the two, because of the evil? but there
is no use in the good for its own sake.
I suppose not.
Then the final principle of friendship, in which all other friendships
terminated, those, I mean, which are relatively dear and for the sake of
something else, is of another and a different nature from them. For they
are called dear because of another dear or friend. But with the true
Lysis |
