| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: government do with you just as it pleases. You make no inquiry into the
origin, the history, or the rights of a Regent; and in consequence of this
negligence, the Spaniard has drawn the net over your
ears.
Soest. Who cares for that, if one has only daily bread?
Jetter. The devil! Why did not some one come forward and tell us this in
time?
Vansen. I tell it you now. The King of Spain, whose good fortune it is to
bear sway over these provinces, has no right to govern them otherwise
than the petty princes who formerly possessed them separately. Do you
understand that?
Egmont |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: sky and disappointed our observation. We sat awhile silent in the
dark, and then he addressed himself to me in these words: 'Imlac,
I have long considered thy friendship as the greatest blessing of
my life. Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and
knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. I have
found in thee all the qualities requisite for trust - benevolence,
experience, and fortitude. I have long discharged an office which
I must soon quit at the call of Nature, and shall rejoice in the
hour of imbecility and pain to devolve it upon thee.'
"I thought myself honoured by this testimony, and protested that
whatever could conduce to his happiness would add likewise to mine.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert: He brushed the dust off her cothurni; he wanted her to put a quarter
of a pomegranate between her lips; he heaped up garments behind her
head to make a cushion for her. He sought for means to serve her, and
to humble himself, and he even spread the zaimph over her feet as if
it were a mere rug.
"Have you still," he said, "those little gazelle's horns on which your
necklaces hang? You will give them to me! I love them!" For he spoke
as if the war were finished, and joyful laughs broke from him. The
Mercenaries, Hamilcar, every obstacle had now disappeared. The moon
was gliding between two clouds. They could see it through an opening
in the tent. "Ah, what nights have I spent gazing at her! she seemed
Salammbo |
