| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from
month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the
other.
In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to
maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime,
if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler
nations are still the sports of the more artificial. It is not
necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his
brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.
One young man of my acquaintance, who has inherited some acres,
told me that he thought he should live as I did, if he had the
Walden |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: "In my trouble!" Mrs Verloc repeated slowly.
"Yes."
"And do you know what my trouble is?" she whispered with strange
intensity.
"Ten minutes after seeing the evening paper," explained Ossipon
with ardour, "I met a fellow whom you may have seen once or twice
at the shop perhaps, and I had a talk with him which left no doubt
whatever in my mind. Then I started for here, wondering whether
you - I've been fond of you beyond words ever since I set eyes on
your face," he cried, as if unable to command his feelings.
Comrade Ossipon assumed correctly that no woman was capable of
The Secret Agent |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: To shoot the sparks and scatter embers wide.
If, with like reasoning of mind, all else
Thou traverse through, thou wilt discover thus
That in their frame the seeds of many things
They hide, and divers shapes of seeds contain.
Further, thou markest much, to which are given
Along together colour and flavour and smell,
Among which, chief, are most burnt offerings.
. . . . . .
Thus must they be of divers shapes composed.
A smell of scorching enters in our frame
Of The Nature of Things |
