| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: the interests of knowledge; they are spectators of all time and all
existence; and in the magnificence of their contemplation the life of man
is as nothing to them, nor is death fearful. Also they are of a social,
gracious disposition, equally free from cowardice and arrogance. They
learn and remember easily; they have harmonious, well-regulated minds;
truth flows to them sweetly by nature. Can the god of Jealousy himself
find any fault with such an assemblage of good qualities?
Here Adeimantus interposes:--'No man can answer you, Socrates; but every
man feels that this is owing to his own deficiency in argument. He is
driven from one position to another, until he has nothing more to say, just
as an unskilful player at draughts is reduced to his last move by a more
The Republic |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: back two things that I said to you," she then answered him. "I
believe that I do like you. And I know that if I went riding with
you, I should not have an immature protector." And then, with a
final gesture of acknowledgment, she held out her hand to him.
"And I have always wanted," she said, "to thank you for what you
did at the river."
He took her hand, and his heart bounded. "You're a gentleman!" he
exclaimed.
It was now her turn to be overcome with merriment. "I've always
wanted to be a man," she said.
"I am mighty glad you ain't," said he, looking at her.
The Virginian |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: Spaniards echoed, "A miracle! a miracle!"
Dona Elvira, too pious to attribute this to magic, sent for the
Abbot of San-Lucar; and the Prior beholding the miracle with his
own eyes, being a clever man, and withal an Abbot desirous of
augmenting his revenues, determined to turn the occasion to
profit. He immediately gave out that Don Juan would certainly be
canonized; he appointed a day for the celebration of the
apotheosis in his convent, which thenceforward, he said, should
be called the convent of San Juan of Lucar. At these words a
sufficiently facetious grimace passed over the features of the
late Duke.
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