| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: early writers are in possession of nature, and their followers of
art; that the first excel in strength and invention, and the latter
in elegance and refinement.
"I was desirous to add my name to this illustrious fraternity. I
read all the poets of Persia and Arabia, and was able to repeat by
memory the volumes that are suspended in the mosque of Mecca. But
I soon found that no man was ever great by imitations. My desire
of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to
life. Nature was to be my subject, and men to be my auditors. I
could never describe what I had not seen. I could not hope to move
those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did not
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: closely linked to them by intermediate gradations, that naturalists do not
like to rank them as distinct species, are in several respects the most
important for us. We have every reason to believe that many of these
doubtful and closely-allied forms have permanently retained their
characters in their own country for a long time; for as long, as far as we
know, as have good and true species. Practically, when a naturalist can
unite two forms together by others having intermediate characters, he
treats the one as a variety of the other, ranking the most common, but
sometimes the one first described, as the species, and the other as the
variety. But cases of great difficulty, which I will not here enumerate,
sometimes occur in deciding whether or not to rank one form as a variety of
On the Origin of Species |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: in a nameless manner. And yet when I proceed against my father, they are
angry with me. So inconsistent are they in their way of talking when the
gods are concerned, and when I am concerned.
SOCRATES: May not this be the reason, Euthyphro, why I am charged with
impiety--that I cannot away with these stories about the gods? and
therefore I suppose that people think me wrong. But, as you who are
well informed about them approve of them, I cannot do better than
assent to your superior wisdom. What else can I say, confessing as I
do, that I know nothing about them? Tell me, for the love of Zeus,
whether you really believe that they are true.
EUTHYPHRO: Yes, Socrates; and things more wonderful still, of which the
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