| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: "That'll do. I can manage now."
And he could manage. He could manage to find his way into his
berth, light his lamp, get into his bed - ay, and get out of it
when I called him at half-past five, the first man on deck, lifting
the cup of morning coffee to his lips with a steady hand, ready for
duty as though he had virtuously slept ten solid hours - a better
chief officer than many a man who had never tasted grog in his
life. He could manage all that, but could never manage to get on
in life.
Only once he failed to seize the cabin-door handle at the first
grab. He waited a little, tried again, and again failed. His
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Plays with thine intellect thy mouth has opened,
Up to this point, as it should opened be,
So that I do approve what forth emerged;
But now thou must express what thou believest,
And whence to thy belief it was presented."
"O holy father, spirit who beholdest
What thou believedst so that thou o'ercamest,
Towards the sepulchre, more youthful feet,"
Began I, "thou dost wish me in this place
The form to manifest of my prompt belief,
And likewise thou the cause thereof demandest.
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: told it she wouldn't give it. As already observed, I was not at
home when it first came, and she told me she found it in the woods.
It seems odd that it should be the only one, yet it must be so,
for I have worn myself out these many weeks trying to find another
one to add to my collection, and for this one to play with; for
surely then it would be quieter, and we could tame it more easily.
But I find none, nor any vestige of any; and strangest of all, no
tracks. It has to live on the ground, it cannot help itself;
therefore, how does it get about without leaving a track? I have
set a dozen traps, but they do no good. I catch all small animals
except that one; animals that merely go into the trap out of
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