| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: Monsieur de Camps, had not been neglected by him. We can imagine the
admiration of the iron-master, who had studied too exclusively the
subject of iron ore to know much about the other branches of
metallurgy, when the young deputy told him, apropos of the wealth of
our soil, a sort of Arabian Nights tale, which, if science would only
take hold of it, might become a reality.
"But, monsieur, do you really believe," cried Monsieur de Camps,
"that, besides our coal and iron mines, we possess mines of copper,
lead, and, possibly, silver?"
"If you will take the trouble to consult certain specialists," replied
Sallenauve, "you will find that neither the boasted strata of Bohemia
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: patient of his, has inflammation of the lungs, and begs that he may be
allowed to eat or drink something, and the other is firm and refuses; is
that courage?
LACHES: No; that is not courage at all, any more than the last.
SOCRATES: Again, take the case of one who endures in war, and is willing
to fight, and wisely calculates and knows that others will help him, and
that there will be fewer and inferior men against him than there are with
him; and suppose that he has also advantages of position; would you say of
such a one who endures with all this wisdom and preparation, that he, or
some man in the opposing army who is in the opposite circumstances to these
and yet endures and remains at his post, is the braver?
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