| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: "I implore you."
"But you forget that you are a prisoner."
"It is true I am a prisoner, but I am a man of honour, and I
promise you on my word that I will not run away, I will not
attempt to escape, -- only let me see the flower."
"But my orders, Sir, my orders." And the officer again made
the driver a sign to proceed.
Cornelius stopped him once more.
"Oh, be forbearing, be generous! my whole life depends upon
your pity. Alas! perhaps it will not be much longer. You
don't know, sir, what I suffer. You don't know the struggle
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: About the middle of the next day, as she was in her room getting
ready for a walk, a sudden noise below seemed to speak the
whole house in confusion; and, after listening a moment, she
heard somebody running upstairs in a violent hurry, and calling
loudly after her. She opened the door and met Maria in the
landing place, who, breathless with agitation, cried out--
"Oh, my dear Eliza! pray make haste and come into the
dining-room, for there is such a sight to be seen! I will not tell
you what it is. Make haste, and come down this moment."
Elizabeth asked questions in vain; Maria would tell her nothing
more, and down they ran into the dining-room, which fronted
Pride and Prejudice |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: adorned with buildings, merely to behold which was in itself an
education. The participators in it were not men with minds so
dwarfed by exclusive devotion to special pursuits that after
"talking shop" they could find nothing else save wine and cookery
to converse about. They were men with minds fresh and open for
the discussion of topics which are not for a day only.
A man like Sokrates, living in such a community, did not need to
write down his wisdom. He had no such vast public as the modern
philosopher has to reach. He could hail any one he happened to
pass in the street, begin an argument with him forthwith, and set
a whole crowd thinking and inquiring about subjects the mere
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
