| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: "I have said to myself that as long as I did nothing contrary to
the respect which I owe to the traditional probity of the family
I could live as I am living, and this has reassured me somewhat
in regard to the fears I have had."
Passions are formidable enemies to sentiment. I was prepared for
every struggle, even with my father, in order that I might keep
Marguerite.
"Then, the moment is come when you must live otherwise."
"Why, father?"
"Because you are doing things which outrage the respect that you
imagine you have for your family."
Camille |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton: Princess Mother liked cosy parties and begged her hosts that
there should never be more than thirty at table. Such, at
least, was the reason given by Mrs. Hicks to her faithful
followers; but Lansing had observed that, of late, the same
skilled hand which had refashioned the Hickses' social circle
usually managed to exclude from it the timid presences of the
two secretaries. Their banishment was the more displeasing to
Lansing from the fact that, for the last three months, he had
filled Mr. Buttles's place, and was himself their salaried
companion. But since he had accepted the post, his obvious duty
was to fill it in accordance with his employers' requirements;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: trials. They were not so much implacable as impracticable in their
dealings with others in misfortune. To them, virtue, honor, loyalty,
all human sentiments consisted solely in the payment of their bills.
Irritable and irritating, without feelings, and sordid in their
economy, the brother and sister bore a dreadful reputation among the
other merchants of the rue Saint-Denis. Had it not been for their
connection with Provins, where they went three or four times a year,
when they could close the shop for a day or two, they would have had
no clerks or young women. But old Rogron, their father, sent them all
the unfortunate young people of his neighborhood, whose parents wished
to start them in business in Paris. He obtained these apprentices by
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