| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: terrible, Want is terrible; fly, comrades! the enemy are upon
us!" we shall reply, Get you gone, and prophesy to yourself! we
have but erred in sending such a spy as you. Diogenes, who was
sent as a spy long before you, brought us back another report
than this. He says that Death is no evil; for it need not even
bring shame with it. He says that Fame is but the empty noise of
madmen. And what report did this spy bring us of Pain, what of
Pleasure, what of Want? That to be clothed in sackcloth is better
than any purple robe; that sleeping on the bare ground is the
softest couch; and in proof of each assertion he points to his
own courage, constancy, and freedom; to his own healthy and
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Buttered Side Down by Edna Ferber: caught the words "juicy" and "corn-fed."
That particular store prides itself on its cheese department.
It boasts that there one can get anything in cheese from the simple
cottage variety to imposing mottled Stilton. There are cheeses
from France, cheeses from Switzerland, cheeses from Holland. Brick
and parmesan, Edam and limburger perfumed the atmosphere.
Behind the counters were big, full-fed men in white aprons,
and coats. They flourished keen bright knives. As Jennie gazed,
one of them, in a moment of idleness, cut a tiny wedge from a rich
yellow Swiss cheese and stood nibbling it absently, his eyes
wandering toward the blonde gelatine demonstrator. Jennie swayed,
Buttered Side Down |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: was disturbed by a dream. He felt on his heart the trickle of pearls,
dropped there by an angel; he woke, and found himself bathed in the
tears of Massimilla Doni. He was lying in her arms, and she gazed at
him as he slept.
That evening, at the /Fenice/,--though la Tinti had not allowed him to
rise till two in the afternoon, which is said to be very bad for a
tenor voice,--Genovese sang divinely in his part in /Semiramide/. He
was recalled with la Tinti, fresh crowns were given, the pit was wild
with delight; the tenor no longer attempted to charm the prima donna
by angelic methods.
Vendramin was the only person whom the doctor could not cure. Love for
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