| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: seven.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. It's false, Mr. Hardcastle; I was but twenty when I
was brought to bed of Tony, that I had by Mr. Lumpkin, my first
husband; and he's not come to years of discretion yet.
HARDCASTLE. Nor ever will, I dare answer for him. Ay, you have
taught him finely.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. No matter. Tony Lumpkin has a good fortune. My son
is not to live by his learning. I don't think a boy wants much
learning to spend fifteen hundred a year.
HARDCASTLE. Learning, quotha! a mere composition of tricks and
mischief.
She Stoops to Conquer |
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: Rastignac suggested Claparon and Company, and continued--'You have a
fortnight, a month, possibly three months, in which to realize and
make something; the shares are still going up----'
" 'But d'Aiglemont, who was here at breakfast with us, has a million
in Nucingen's bank.'
" 'Look here; I do not know whether there will be enough of these
shares to cover it; and besides, I am not his friend, I cannot betray
Nucingen's confidence. You must not speak to d'Aiglemont. If you say a
word, you must answer to me for the consequences.'
"Godefroid stood stock still for ten minutes.
" 'Do you accept? Yes or no!' said the inexorable Rastignac.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
To be quite candid I did not attempt to delude myself with any
such sophistry, since I knew well that upon war-like Mars there
are few cowards, and that every man, whether prince, priest,
or peasant, glories in deadly strife. And so I gripped my
long-sword the tighter as I replied to Lakor.
"I believe that you will see the wisdom of permitting me to
pass unmolested," I said, "for it would avail you nothing to die
uselessly in the rocky bowels of Barsoom merely to protect a
hereditary enemy, such as Thurid, Dator of the First Born.
The Warlord of Mars |
