| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: us. The superficial appearances of language, as of nature, are irregular,
but we do not therefore deny their deeper uniformity. The comparison of
the growth of language in the individual and in the nation cannot be wholly
discarded, for nations are made up of individuals. But in this, as in the
other political sciences, we must distinguish between collective and
individual actions or processes, and not attribute to the one what belongs
to the other. Again, when we speak of the hereditary or paternity of a
language, we must remember that the parents are alive as well as the
children, and that all the preceding generations survive (after a manner)
in the latest form of it. And when, for the purposes of comparison, we
form into groups the roots or terminations of words, we should not forget
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Desert Gold by Zane Grey: eyes upon him. He sobbed and moaned and howled. But no one offered
to help him to his feet.
Backed against the door of the hall stood Ben Chase, for once
stripped of all authority and confidence and courage. Gale
confronted him, and now Gale's mien was in striking contrast to
the coolness with which he had entered the place. Though sweat
dripped from his face, it was as white as chalk. Like dark flames
his eyes seemed to leap and dance and burn. His lean jaw hung
down and quivered with passion. He shook a huge gloved fist in
Chase's face.
"Your gray hairs save you this time. But keep out of my way! And
Desert Gold |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: Expands itself," forthwith its words began,
"That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,
Between discordant shores against the sun
Extends so far, that it meridian makes
Where it was wont before to make the horizon.
I was a dweller on that valley's shore
'Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short
Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.
With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly
Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,
That with its blood once made the harbour hot.
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
