| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: the sake of Freedom that is true, and sure, and unassailable,
dost thou grudge to God what He gave, when He claims it? Wilt
thou not study, as Plato saith, to endure, not death alone, but
torture, exile, stripes--in a word, to render up all that is not
thine own? Else thou wilt be a slave amid slaves, wert thou ten
thousand times a consul; aye, not a whit the less, though thou
climb the Palace steps. And thou shalt know how true the saying
of Cleanthes, that though the words of philosophers may run
counter to the opinions of the world, yet have they reason on
their side.
CXLII
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: your brow your master's blood! Look, gentlemen, all!'
"These words had been pronounced with such enthusiasm and
evident truth, that every eye was fixed on the count's
forehead, and he himself passed his hand across it, as if he
felt Ali's blood still lingering there. `You positively
recognize M. de Morcerf as the officer, Fernand Mondego?' --
`Indeed I do!' cried Haidee. `Oh, my mother, it was you who
said, "You were free, you had a beloved father, you were
destined to be almost a queen. Look well at that man; it is
he who raised your father's head on the point of a spear; it
is he who sold us; it is he who forsook us! Look well at his
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Crisis in Russia by Arthur Ransome: should be done. Then there would be no strikes. "He
blesses you for the arrangement of these trains." In 1916 the
peasants were burying their bread instead of bringing it to
market. In the autumn of 1916 I remember telling certain
most incredulous members of the English Government that
there would be a most serious food shortage in Russia in the
near future. In 1917 came the upheaval of the revolution, in
1918 peace, but for Russia, civil war and the continuance of
the blockade. By July, 1919, the rarity of manufactured
goods was such that it was possible two hundred miles south
of Moscow to obtain ten eggs for a box of matches, and the
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