| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: thee become the hardest.
He who hath always much-indulged himself, sickeneth at last by his much-
indulgence. Praises on what maketh hardy! I do not praise the land where
butter and honey--flow!
To learn TO LOOK AWAY FROM oneself, is necessary in order to see MANY
THINGS:--this hardiness is needed by every mountain-climber.
He, however, who is obtrusive with his eyes as a discerner, how can he ever
see more of anything than its foreground!
But thou, O Zarathustra, wouldst view the ground of everything, and its
background: thus must thou mount even above thyself--up, upwards, until
thou hast even thy stars UNDER thee!
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: party. We found ourselves in New Orleans, as in the midst of the
ocean, separated from the rest of the world by an immense
interval of space. In a country perfectly unknown, a desert, or
inhabited, if not by brutes, at least by savages quite as
ferocious, to what corner could we fly? I was respected in the
town, but I could not hope to excite the people in my favour to
such a degree as to derive assistance from them proportioned to
the impending danger: money was requisite for that purpose, and I
was poor. Besides, the success of a popular commotion was
uncertain; and if we failed in the attempt, our doom would be
inevitably sealed.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: conviction, to be so well pleased with her, as I am sure he is, does really
astonish me. His admiration was at first very strong, but no more than was
natural, and I did not wonder at his being much struck by the gentleness
and delicacy of her manners; but when he has mentioned her of late it has
been in terms of more extraordinary praise; and yesterday he actually said
that he could not be surprised at any effect produced on the heart of man
by such loveliness and such abilities; and when I lamented, in reply, the
badness of her disposition, he observed that whatever might have been her
errors they were to be imputed to her neglected education and early
marriage, and that she was altogether a wonderful woman. This tendency to
excuse her conduct or to forget it, in the warmth of admiration, vexes me;
Lady Susan |
