| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Euthydemus by Plato: possible in himself, and may he not be deemed the happiest of men who has
three talents of gold in his belly, and a talent in his pate, and a stater
of gold in either eye?
Yes, Euthydemus, said Ctesippus; and the Scythians reckon those who have
gold in their own skulls to be the happiest and bravest of men (that is
only another instance of your manner of speaking about the dog and father),
and what is still more extraordinary, they drink out of their own skulls
gilt, and see the inside of them, and hold their own head in their hands.
And do the Scythians and others see that which has the quality of vision,
or that which has not? said Euthydemus.
That which has the quality of vision clearly.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: ding day. She had the unmoved countenance of
the deaf, spoke very seldom, and her lips, thin like
her father's, astonished one sometimes by a myste-
riously ironic curl.
"These were the people to whom he owed alle-
giance, and an overwhelming loneliness seemed to
fall from the leaden sky of that winter without sun-
shine. All the faces were sad. He could talk to
no one, and had no hope of ever understanding
anybody. It was as if these had been the faces of
people from the other world--dead people--he
Amy Foster |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: ere Smith kicked the door open, clattered down three wooden steps,
and pulled himself up with a jerk, seizing my arm for support.
We stood in a bare and very dirty room, which could only
claim kinship with a civilized shaving-saloon by virtue of
the grimy towel thrown across the back of the solitary chair.
A Yiddish theatrical bill of some kind, illustrated, adorned one
of the walls, and another bill, in what may have been Chinese,
completed the decorations. From behind a curtain heavily brocaded
with filth a little Chinaman appeared, dressed in a loose smock,
black trousers and thick-soled slippers, and, advancing,
shook his head vigorously.
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
