| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde: time I saw her - twenty years ago, she was a fright in flannel.
Positive fright, I assure you. The dear Duchess! and that sweet
Lady Agatha! Just the type of girl I like! Well, really,
Windermere, if I am to be the Duchess's sister-in-law
LORD WINDERMERE. [Sitting L. of her.] But are you - ?
[Exit MR. CECIL GRAHAM with rest of guests. LADY WINDERMERE
watches, with a look of scorn and pain, MRS. ERLYNNE and her
husband. They are unconscious of her presence.]
MRS. ERLYNNE. Oh, yes! He's to call to-morrow at twelve o'clock!
He wanted to propose to-night. In fact he did. He kept on
proposing. Poor Augustus, you know how he repeats himself. Such a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: an excellent citizen; he mounted guard duly, went to reviews, and paid
his rent and provision-bills with bourgeois punctuality.
Having lived all his life in toil and poverty, he had never had the
time to love. Poor and a bachelor, until now he did not desire to
complicate his simple life. Incapable of devising any means of
increasing his little fortune, he carried, every three months, to his
notary, Cardot, his quarterly earnings and economies. When the notary
had received about three thousand francs he invested them in some
first mortgage, the interest of which he drew himself and added to the
quarterly payments made to him by Fougeres. The painter was awaiting
the fortunate moment when his property thus laid by would give him the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Burning Daylight by Jack London: was he who stacked the universal card-deck of existence.
There was no justice in the deal. The little men that came, the
little pulpy babies, were not even asked if they wanted to try a
flutter at the game. They had no choice. Luck jerked them into
life, slammed them up against the jostling table, and told them:
"Now play, damn you, play!" And they did their best, poor little
devils. The play of some led to steam yachts and mansions; of
others, to the asylum or the pauper's ward. Some played the one
same card, over and over, and made wine all their days in the
chaparral, hoping, at the end, to pull down a set of false teeth
and a coffin. Others quit the game early, having drawn cards
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