| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: With those greenish rummers, the fittingest goblets for Rhine wine.
So the three sat together, around the glistening polish'd
Circular large brown table-Äon massive feet it was planted.
Merrily clink'd together the glasses of host and of pastor,
But the other one thoughtfully held his glass without moving,
And in friendly fashion the host thus ask'd him to join them:--
"Drink, good neighbour, I pray! A merciful God has protected
Us in the past from misfortune, and will protect us in future.
All must confess that since He thought fit to severely chastise us,
When that terrible fire occurr'd, He has constantly bless'd us.
And watch'd over us constantly, just as man is accustom'd
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: beauty every other woman," said Ernest, "and I should think you might
feel some curiosity--"
"Ah," said Canalis, "permit me, my juvenile friend, to abide by the
beautiful duchess who is all my joy."
"You are right, you are right!" cried Ernest. However, the young
secretary read and re-read Modeste's letter, striving to guess the
mind of its hidden writer.
"There is not the least fine-writing here," he said, "she does not
even talk of your genius; she speaks to your heart. In your place I
should feel tempted by this fragrance of modesty,--this proposed
agreement--"
Modeste Mignon |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: with it instead of men. Ships and armies you may replace if they
are lost, but a great intellect, once abused, is a curse to the
earth for ever."
This, then, I meant by saying that the arts must have noble motive.
This also I said respecting them, that they never had prospered, nor
could prosper, but when they had such true purpose, and were devoted
to the proclamation of divine truth or law. And yet I saw also that
they had always failed in this proclamation--that poetry, and
sculpture, and painting, though only great when they strove to teach
us something about the gods, never had taught us anything
trustworthy about the gods, but had always betrayed their trust in
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