| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: OBSTINATE, adj. Inaccessible to the truth as it is manifest in the
splendor and stress of our advocacy.
The popular type and exponent of obstinacy is the mule, a most
intelligent animal.
OCCASIONAL, adj. Afflicting us with greater or less frequency. That,
however, is not the sense in which the word is used in the phrase
"occasional verses," which are verses written for an "occasion," such
as an anniversary, a celebration or other event. True, they afflict
us a little worse than other sorts of verse, but their name has no
reference to irregular recurrence.
OCCIDENT, n. The part of the world lying west (or east) of the
The Devil's Dictionary |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: sepulchral grumblings in the chimney. The cold was growing sharper
an the night went on. Villon, protruding his lips, imitated the
gust with something between a whistle and a groan. It was an
eerie, uncomfortable talent of the poet's, much detested by the
Picardy monk.
"Can't you hear it rattle in the gibbet?" said Villon. "They are
all dancing the devil's jig on nothing, up there. You may dance,
my gallants, you'll be none the warmer! Whew! what a gust! Down
went somebody just now! A medlar the fewer on the three-legged
medlar-tree! - I say, Dom Nicolas, it'll be cold to-night on the
St. Denis Road?" he asked.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: At this Guy of Gisbourne gave another harsh laugh. "Why," quoth he,
"it is a merry thing to think of one stout outlaw like Robin Hood
meeting another stout outlaw like Guy of Gisbourne. Only in this
case it will be an ill happening for Robin Hood, for the day he meets
Guy of Gisbourne he shall die."
"But thou gentle, merry spirit," quoth Robin, "dost thou not think
that mayhap this same Robin Hood may be the better man of the two?
I know him right well, and many think that he is one of the
stoutest men hereabouts."
"He may be the stoutest of men hereabouts," quoth Guy of Gisbourne,
"yet, I tell thee, fellow, this sty of yours is not the wide world.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
