| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: stiffly--waiting.
Suddenly she seized my downcast head and kissed my hair. She
caught at my face between her hands and kissed my lips. I put my
arms about her and we kissed together. I sprang to my feet and
clasped her.
"Beatrice!" I said. "Beatrice!"
"My dear," she whispered, nearly breathless, with her arms about
me. "Oh! my dear!"
II
Love, like everything else in this immense process of social
disorganisation in which we live, is a thing adrift, a fruitless
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: nomination. Gobseck's peculiar genius had then devised an agency for
discounting the planters' claims on the government. The business was
carried on under the names of Werbrust and Gigonnet, with whom he
shared the spoil without disbursements, for his knowledge was accepted
instead of capital. The agency was a sort of distillery, in which
money was extracted from doubtful claims, and the claims of those who
knew no better, or had no confidence in the government. As a
liquidator, Gobseck could make terms with the large landed
proprietors; and these, either to gain a higher percentage of their
claims, or to ensure prompt settlements, would send him presents in
proportion to their means. In this way presents came to be a kind of
Gobseck |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: men upon talking on subjects they are best versed in, yet that is a
liberty a wise man could hardly take; because, beside the
imputation of pedantry, it is what he would never improve by.
This great town is usually provided with some player, mimic, or
buffoon, who hath a general reception at the good tables; familiar
and domestic with persons of the first quality, and usually sent
for at every meeting to divert the company, against which I have no
objection. You go there as to a farce or a puppet-show; your
business is only to laugh in season, either out of inclination or
civility, while this merry companion is acting his part. It is a
business he hath undertaken, and we are to suppose he is paid for
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