| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Passion in the Desert by Honore de Balzac: case they might come to drink at the spring, visible from the base of
the rocks but lost further down, he resolved to guard himself from
their visits by placing a barrier at the entrance of his hermitage.
In spite of his diligence, and the strength which the fear of being
devoured asleep gave him, he was unable to cut the palm in pieces,
though he succeeded in cutting it down. At eventide the king of the
desert fell; the sound of its fall resounded far and wide, like a sigh
in the solitude; the soldier shuddered as though he had heard some
voice predicting woe.
But like an heir who does not long bewail a deceased relative, he tore
off from this beautiful tree the tall broad green leaves which are its
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: ought to speak, and then impose upon Socrates any task which you please,
and he on his right hand neighbour, and so on.
That is good, Eryximachus, said Alcibiades; and yet the comparison of a
drunken man's speech with those of sober men is hardly fair; and I should
like to know, sweet friend, whether you really believe what Socrates was
just now saying; for I can assure you that the very reverse is the fact,
and that if I praise any one but himself in his presence, whether God or
man, he will hardly keep his hands off me.
For shame, said Socrates.
Hold your tongue, said Alcibiades, for by Poseidon, there is no one else
whom I will praise when you are of the company.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Places of the Heart by H. G. Wells: The maid was a young woman of great natural calmness; she was
accustomed to let in visitors who had this air of being
annoyed and finding one umbrella too numerous for them. It
mattered nothing to her that the gentleman was asking for Dr.
Martineau as if he was asking for something with an
unpleasant taste. Almost imperceptibly she relieved him of
his umbrella and juggled his hat and coat on to a massive
mahogany stand. "What name, Sir?" she asked, holding open the
door of the consulting room.
"Hardy," said the gentleman, and then yielding it reluctantly
with its distasteful three-year-old honour, "Sir Richmond
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