| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: follows:
My Father's Lamentation.
It is in vain longer, said my father, addressing himself as much to
Ernulphus's curse, which was laid upon the corner of the chimney-piece--as
to my uncle Toby who sat under it--it is in vain longer, said my father, in
the most querulous monotony imaginable, to struggle as I have done against
this most uncomfortable of human persuasions--I see it plainly, that either
for my own sins, brother Toby, or the sins and follies of the Shandy
family, Heaven has thought fit to draw forth the heaviest of its artillery
against me; and that the prosperity of my child is the point upon which the
whole force of it is directed to play.--Such a thing would batter the whole
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: political stage; he penetrated Napoleon's secrets, he gave him useful
counsel and precious information. Satisfied with having proven his
capacity and his usefulness, Fouche was careful not to disclose
himself completely. He wished to remain at the head of affairs, but
the Emperor's restless uneasiness about him cost him his place.
The ingratitude or rather the distrust shown by Napoleon after the
affair at Walcheren, gives the key-note to the character of a man who,
unfortunately for himself, was not a great /seigneur/, and whose
conduct was modelled on that of Talleyrand. At that time neither his
former colleagues nor his present ones had suspected the amplitude of
his genius, which was purely ministerial, essentially governmental,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: corner of the roof.
It was the boy who took the Doctor's fancy. He had a great arched
skull, the forehead and the hands of a musician, and a pair of
haunting eyes. It was not merely that these eyes were large, or
steady, or the softest ruddy brown. There was a look in them,
besides, which thrilled the Doctor, and made him half uneasy. He
was sure he had seen such a look before, and yet he could not
remember how or where. It was as if this boy, who was quite a
stranger to him, had the eyes of an old friend or an old enemy.
And the boy would give him no peace; he seemed profoundly
indifferent to what was going on, or rather abstracted from it in a
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