| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Unsocial Socialist by George Bernard Shaw: is, an entire reversal or abandonment of it."
He shook his head sadly and said: "You seek to impose your ideas
on others, ostracizing those who reject them. Believe me, mankind
has been doing nothing else ever since it began to pay some
attention to ideas. It has been said that a benevolent despotism
is the best possible form of government. I do not believe that
saying, because I believe another one to the effect that hell is
paved with benevolence, which most people, the proverb being too
deep for them, misinterpret as unfulfilled intentions. As if a
benevolent despot might not by any error of judgment destroy his
kingdom, and then say, like Romeo when he got his friend killed,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: Hawaiians; and Poor, seeing his conspiracy public, burst with his
boat's-crew into the town, made his way to the house of the native
prime minister, and demanded Coe's release. Brandeis hastened to
the spot, with Strong at his heels; and the two principals being
both incensed, and Strong seriously alarmed for his friend's
safety, there began among them a scene of great intemperance. At
one point, when Strong suddenly disclosed his acquaintance with
German, it attained a high style of comedy; at another, when a
pistol was most foolishly drawn, it bordered on drama; and it may
be said to have ended in a mixed genus, when Poor was finally
packed into the corrugated iron gaol along with the forfeited
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: of Homer's can pretend to;--namely, That the one raises a sum, and the
other a laugh at your expence, and thinks no more about it. Interest,
however, still runs on in both cases;--the periodical or accidental
payments of it, just serving to keep the memory of the affair alive; till,
at length, in some evil hour, pop comes the creditor upon each, and by
demanding principal upon the spot, together with full interest to the very
day, makes them both feel the full extent of their obligations.
As the reader (for I hate your ifs) has a thorough knowledge of human
nature, I need not say more to satisfy him, that my Hero could not go on at
this rate without some slight experience of these incidental mementos. To
speak the truth, he had wantonly involved himself in a multitude of small
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