| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: it eighteen years since you left the foot of Graylock. But, I can
tell you, the good folks still talk about Ethan Brand, in the
village yonder, and what a strange errand took him away from his
lime-kiln. Well, and so you have found the Unpardonable Sin?"
"Even so!" said the stranger, calmly.
"If the question is a fair one," proceeded Bartram, "where might
it be?"
Ethan Brand laid his finger on his own heart.
"Here!" replied he.
And then, without mirth in his countenance, but as if moved by an
involuntary recognition of the infinite absurdity of seeking
The Snow Image |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: will betray you into unreasonable conduct, nor will you behave
harshly by irritating another.
CLXXXI
When Xanthippe was chiding Socrates for making scanty
preparation for entertaining his friends, he answered:--"If they
are friends of our, they will not care for that; if they are not,
we shall care nothing for them!"
CLXXXII
Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, "He who is
content."
CLXXXIII
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: all idea of art or premeditation. If she has a royally beautiful hand,
the most perspicacious beholder will believe that it is absolutely
necessary that she should twist, or refix, or push aside the ringlet
or curl she plays with. If she has some dignity of profile, you will
be persuaded that she is giving irony or grace to what she says to her
neighbor, sitting in such a position as to produce the magical effect
of the 'lost profile,' so dear to great painters, by which the cheek
catches the high light, the nose is shown in clear outline, the
nostrils are transparently rosy, the forehead squarely modeled, the
eye has its spangle of fire, but fixed on space, and the white
roundness of the chin is accentuated by a line of light. If she has a
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