| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: independence. In spite of her huge variety of natural
resources, the Russian organism seemed in 1914 to have
been built up on the generous assumption that with Europe
at least the country was to be permanently at peace, or at the
lost to engage in military squabbles which could be reckoned
in months, and would keep up the prestige of the
autocracy without seriously hampering imports and exports.
Almost every country in Europe, with the exception of
England, was better fitted to stand alone, was less
completely specialized in a single branch of production.
England, fortunately for herself, was not isolated during the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: transition from his poetic Paris to the dumb and arid province; and
when, coming downstairs, he chanced to see Monsieur Hochon cutting
slices of bread for each person, he understood, for the first time in
his life, Moliere's Harpagon.
"We should have done better to go to an inn," he said to himself.
The aspect of the dinner confirmed his apprehensions. After a soup
whose watery clearness showed that quantity was more considered than
quality, the bouilli was served, ceremoniously garnished with parsley;
the vegetables, in a dish by themselves, being counted into the items
of the repast. The bouilli held the place of honor in the middle of
the table, accompanied with three other dishes: hard-boiled eggs on
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: "Very well, then let men of genius stop at home and not get married.
What! A man of genius is to make his wife miserable? And because he is
a genius it is all right! Genius, genius! It is not so very clever to
say black one minute and white the next, as he does, to interrupt
other people, to dance such rigs at home, never to let you know which
foot you are to stand on, to compel his wife never to be amused unless
my lord is in gay spirits, and to be dull when he is dull."
"But, mother, the very nature of such imaginations----"
"What are such 'imaginations'?" Madame Guillaume went on, interrupting
her daughter again. "Fine ones his are, my word! What possesses a man
that all on a sudden, without consulting a doctor, he takes it into
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