The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: whether she had gained any light at to Monsieur Longueville's family
and fortune.
"Yes, my dear father," she replied, "and I am happier than I could
have hoped. In short, Monsieur de Longueville is the only man I could
ever marry."
"Very well, Emilie," said the Count, "then I know what remains for me
to do."
"Do you know of any impediment?" she asked, in sincere alarm.
"My dear child, the young man is totally unknown to me; but unless he
is not a man of honor, so long as you love him, he is as dear to me as
a son."
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lysis by Plato: Ctesippus will be able to tell you, he said; for if, as he avers, the sound
of my words is always dinning in his ears, he must have a very accurate
knowledge and recollection of them.
Yes, indeed, said Ctesippus; I know only too well; and very ridiculous the
tale is: for although he is a lover, and very devotedly in love, he has
nothing particular to talk about to his beloved which a child might not
say. Now is not that ridiculous? He can only speak of the wealth of
Democrates, which the whole city celebrates, and grandfather Lysis, and the
other ancestors of the youth, and their stud of horses, and their victory
at the Pythian games, and at the Isthmus, and at Nemea with four horses and
single horses--these are the tales which he composes and repeats. And
Lysis |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: as he read stanzas that caused the soul to thrill within him, he
lifted his eyes to the vast countenance beaming on him so
benignantly.
"O majestic friend," he murmured, addressing the Great Stone
Face, "is not this man worthy to resemble thee?"
The Face seemed to smile, but answered not a word.
Now it happened that the poet, though he dwelt so far away, had
not only heard of Ernest, but had meditated much upon his
character, until he deemed nothing so desirable as to meet this
man, whose untaught wisdom walked hand in hand with the noble
simplicity of his life. One summer morning, therefore, he took
The Snow Image |