| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus: I left!" he cried. "That," I said, "you will not do; but the
moment the scent of Rome is in your nostrils, you will forget it
all; and if you can but gain admission to Court, you will be glad
enough to elbow your way in, and thank God for it." "Epictetus,"
he replied, "if ever you find me setting as much as one foot
within the Court, think what you will of me."
Well, as it was, what did he do? Ere ever he entered the
city, he was met by a despatch from the Emperor. He took it, and
forgot the whole of his resolutions. From that moment, he has
been piling one thing upon another. I should like to be beside
him to remind him of what he said when passing this way, and to
The Golden Sayings of Epictetus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: casket with the landlady, as I ordered you? Have you put it into her
own hands?
SERVANT. Yes, your honour.
MARLOW. She said she'd keep it safe, did she?
SERVANT. Yes, she said she'd keep it safe enough; she asked me how I
came by it; and she said she had a great mind to make me give an
account of myself. [Exit Servant.]
MARLOW. Ha! ha! ha! They're safe, however. What an unaccountable set
of beings have we got amongst! This little bar-maid though runs in my
head most strangely, and drives out the absurdities of all the rest of
the family. She's mine, she must be mine, or I'm greatly mistaken.
She Stoops to Conquer |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Troll Garden and Selected Stories by Willa Cather: appreciative, merely?"
The novelist lifted his dull eyes to his interlocutress with
an untranslatable smile and a slight inclination of his
shoulders. "Exactly so; you are really remarkable, madam," he
added, in a tone of cold astonishment.
After dinner the guests took their coffee in the music room,
where Schemetzkin sat down at the piano to drum ragtime, and give
his celebrated imitation of the boardingschool girl's execution
of Chopin. He flatly refused to play anything more serious, and
would practice only in the morning, when he had the music room to
himself. Hamilton and M. Roux repaired to the smoking room to
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories |
