| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Koran: hire; my hire is only with the Lord of the worlds. Do ye approach
males of all the world and leave what God your Lord has created for
you of your wives? nay, but ye are people who transgress!'
They said, 'Surely, if thou dost not desist, O Lot! thou shalt be of
those who are expelled!'
Said he, 'Verily, I am of those who hate your deed; my Lord! save me
and my people from what they do.'
And we saved him and his people all together, except an old woman
amongst those who lingered. Then we destroyed the others; and we
rained down upon them a rain; and evil was the rain of those who
were warned. Verily, in that is a sign; but most of them will never be
 The Koran |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: thought.
American authors may truly be said to live more in England
than in their own country; since they constantly study the
English writers, and take them every day for their models. But
such is not the case with the bulk of the population, which is
more immediately subjected to the peculiar causes acting upon the
United States. It is not then to the written, but to the spoken
language that attention must be paid, if we would detect the
modifications which the idiom of an aristocratic people may
undergo when it becomes the language of a democracy.
Englishmen of education, and more competent judges than I
|