| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: her heart was full of joy.
She had two immediate aims before her. The
one was to convert Mahin; or, as she put it to
herself, to arouse his true nature, which was good
and kind. She loved him, and the light of her
love revealed the divine element in his soul which
is at the bottom of all souls. But, further, she
saw in him an exceptionally kind and tender
heart, as well as a noble mind. Her other aim
was to abandon her riches. She had first thought
of giving away what she possessed in order to
The Forged Coupon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: "I am praying," she answered, "for them and for you."
Sublime words,--said also by the mother of Godoy, prince of the Peace,
in Spain, under similar circumstances.
In a moment eleven persons were killed and lying on the ground among a
number of wounded. Such results either cool or excite a populace;
either it grows savage at the work or discontinues it. On the present
occasion those in advance recoiled; but the crowd behind them were
there to kill and rob, and when they saw their own dead, they cried
out: "Murder! Murder! Revenge!" The wiser heads went in search of the
representative to the Convention, Malin. The twins, by this time aware
of the disastrous events of the day, suspected Malin of desiring the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: near to a level with each other; so that you will meet with few instances
in that kingdom of refined parts; but a great deal of good plain houshold
understanding amongst all ranks of people, of which every body has a
share;' which is, I think, very right.
With us, you see, the case is quite different:--we are all ups and downs in
this matter;--you are a great genius;--or 'tis fifty to one, Sir, you are a
great dunce and a blockhead;--not that there is a total want of
intermediate steps,--no,--we are not so irregular as that comes to;--but
the two extremes are more common, and in a greater degree in this unsettled
island, where nature, in her gifts and dispositions of this kind, is most
whimsical and capricious; fortune herself not being more so in the bequest
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