| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: upright on his couch, with an absent look. Like one returning from long
foreign sojourn did he look on his disciples, and examined their features;
but still he knew them not. When, however, they raised him, and set him
upon his feet, behold, all on a sudden his eye changed; he understood
everything that had happened, stroked his beard, and said with a strong
voice:
"Well! this hath just its time; but see to it, my disciples, that we have a
good repast; and without delay! Thus do I mean to make amends for bad
dreams!
The soothsayer, however, shall eat and drink at my side: and verily, I
will yet show him a sea in which he can drown himself!"--
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: An excellent gentleman, who bears a name honored in the magazine,
writes, much as Disraeli orated, of "the sublime instincts of an
ancient people," the certainty with which they can be trusted to
manage their own affairs in their own way, and the speed with
which they are making for all sorts of desirable goals. This he
called a statement or purview of American politics.
I went almost directly afterward to a saloon where gentlemen
interested in ward politics nightly congregate. They were not
pretty persons. Some of them were bloated, and they all swore
cheerfully till the heavy gold watch-chains on their fat stomachs
rose and fell again; but they talked over their liquor as men who
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: my hands. I will wager the Jew's letter and seal were forged! In
short, sire, I found myself this morning robbed of those jewels you
admired so much. They have been ravished from me, sire! To steal the
jewels of the Elector of Bavaria! those scoundrels respect nothing!
they'll steal your kingdom if you don't take care. As soon as I missed
the jewels I went up to the room of that apprentice, who is,
assuredly, a past-master in thieving. This time we don't lack proof.
He had forced the lock of his door. But when he got back to his room,
the moon was down and he couldn't find all the screws. Happily, I felt
one under my feet when I entered the room. He was sound asleep, the
beggar, tired out. Just fancy, gentlemen, he got down into my strong-
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