| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather: that she was snugly settled. He looked at his
watch. It was a quarter past ten; she would
not be home for a good two hours yet, and he
might as well walk over and have a look at
the place. He remembered the shortest way.
It was a warm, smoky evening, and there
was a grimy moon. He went through Covent
Garden to Oxford Street, and as he turned
into Museum Street he walked more slowly,
smiling at his own nervousness as he
approached the sullen gray mass at the end.
Alexander's Bridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: He turned his head and looked up over the back of the seat at the
great hotels above him, full of softly shaded lights and the glow
and colour and stir of feasting. Might his gift to mankind mean
simply more of that? . . .
He got up and walked out of the garden, surveyed a passing
tram-car, laden with warm light, against the deep blues of
evening, dripping and trailing long skirts of shining reflection;
he crossed the Embankment and stood for a time watching the dark
river and turning ever and again to the lit buildings and
bridges. His mind began to scheme conceivable replacements of all
those clustering arrangements. . . .
The Last War: A World Set Free |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: knowledge is a noble and commanding thing, which cannot be overcome, and
will not allow a man, if he only knows the difference of good and evil, to
do anything which is contrary to knowledge, but that wisdom will have
strength to help him?
I agree with you, Socrates, said Protagoras; and not only so, but I, above
all other men, am bound to say that wisdom and knowledge are the highest of
human things.
Good, I said, and true. But are you aware that the majority of the world
are of another mind; and that men are commonly supposed to know the things
which are best, and not to do them when they might? And most persons whom
I have asked the reason of this have said that when men act contrary to
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