| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: too rashly; rather I would have you investigate, point by point, what
the god has said. I ask you, is there any one[28] else, you know of,
less enslaved than myself to the appetites[29] of the body? Can you
name another man of more independent spirit than myself, seeing that I
accept from no one either gifts or pay? Whom have you any right to
believe to be more just[30] than one so suited with what he has, that
the things of others excite no craving in him?[31] Whom would one
reasonably deem wise, rather than such a one as myself, who, from the
moment I began to understand things spoken,[32] have never omitted to
inquire into and learn every good thing in my power? And that I
laboured not in vain, what more conclusive evidence than the fact that
The Apology |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Horse's Tale by Mark Twain: in my lap, and the surgeon sponged off the blood and took a needle
and thread and began to sew it up; it had to have a lot of
stitches, and each one made her scrunch a little, but she never let
go a sound. At last the surgeon was so full of admiration that he
said, 'Well, you ARE a brave little thing!' and she said, just as
ca'm and simple as if she was talking about the weather, 'There
isn't anybody braver but the Cid!' You see? it was the boy-twin
that the surgeon was a-dealing with.
"Who is the Cid?"
"I don't know, sir - at least only what she says. She's always
talking about him, and says he was the bravest hero Spain ever had,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: communion to which Cocker's so richly ministered rested on the fact
that Cissy and he were so often in different places. She knew by
this time all the places--Suchbury, Monkhouse, Whiteroy, Finches--
and even how the parties on these occasions were composed; but her
subtlety found ways to make her knowledge fairly protect and
promote their keeping, as she had heard Mrs. Jordan say, in touch.
So, when he actually sometimes smiled as if he really felt the
awkwardness of giving her again one of the same old addresses, all
her being went out in the desire--which her face must have
expressed--that he should recognise her forbearance to criticise as
one of the finest tenderest sacrifices a woman had ever made for
|
