| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: at the pile of books he had taken down from the shelves,
and gasping a little, as if for breath. Then the humorous
side of the thing, perversely enough, appealed to him,
and he grinned feebly to himself at the joke of his having
imagined that he could write learnedly about the Chaldeans,
or anything else. But, no, it shouldn't remain a joke!
His long mobile face grew serious under the new resolve.
He would learn what there was to be learned about the Chaldeans.
He rose and walked up and down the room, gathering fresh
strength of purpose as this inviting field of research
spread out its vistas before him. Perhaps--yes, he would
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: always on my guard with a woman. There is this creature, for instance;
I am madly in love with her; but this is not her furniture; no, it
belongs to me. The lease is taken out in my name.'
"You know Maxime! He thought the coach-builder uncommonly green.
Croizeau might pay all three bills, and get nothing for a long while;
for Maxime felt more infatuated with Antonia than ever."
"I can well believe it," said La Palferine. "She is the /bella
Imperia/ of our day."
"With her rough skin!" exclaimed Malaga; "so rough, that she ruins
herself in bran baths!"
"Croizeau spoke with a coach-builder's admiration of the sumptuous
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: PENCHANT she had not considered, that she had been prevented
telling me her story, - that she still owed it to me; and if my
route should ever lay through Brussels, and I had not by then
forgot the name of Madame de L-, - that Madame de L- would be glad
to discharge her obligation.
Then I will meet thee, said I, fair spirit! at Brussels; - 'tis
only returning from Italy through Germany to Holland, by the route
of Flanders, home; - 'twill scarce be ten posts out of my way; but,
were it ten thousand! with what a moral delight will it crown my
journey, in sharing in the sickening incidents of a tale of misery
told to me by such a sufferer? To see her weep! and, though I
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