| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: are you married? you are troubled with suspicions;
are you single? you languish in solitude; children
occasion toil, and a childless life is a state of
destitution: the time of youth is a time of folly, and
gray hairs are loaded with infirmity. This choice
only, therefore, can be made, either never to receive
being, or immediately to lose it[o]."
[o] "Count o'er the joys thine hours have seen,
"Count o'er thy days from anguish free,
"And know, whatever thou hast been,
" 'Tis something better not to be."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: otherwise become famous; whereas, among those who aspire to become
eminent politically as orators and statesmen,[13] there are some who
cannot see why they should not be able to do all that politics demand,
at a moment's notice, by inspiration as it were, without any
preliminary pains or preparations whatever? And yet it would appear
that the latter concerns must be more difficult of achievement than
the former, in proportion as there are more competitors in the field
but fewer who reach the goal of their ambition, which is as much as to
say that a more sustained effort of attention is needed on the part of
those who embark upon the sea of politics than is elsewhere called
for.
The Memorabilia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Altar of the Dead by Henry James: couldn't, while he showed those high front teeth of his, look other
than a conscious ass about. They were going into the shop, Mrs.
Creston said, and she begged Mr. Stransom to come with them and
help to decide. He thanked her, opening his watch and pleading an
engagement for which he was already late, and they parted while she
shrieked into the fog, "Mind now you come to see me right away!"
Creston had had the delicacy not to suggest that, and Stransom
hoped it hurt him somewhere to hear her scream it to all the
echoes.
He felt quite determined, as he walked away, never in his life to
go near her. She was perhaps a human being, but Creston oughtn't
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