| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: behind Bridau.
"You see, monsieur," said the one who held the painter, "it concerns
our skin as well as yours at this moment. Innocent or guilty, we must
protect you against the tumult raised by the murder of Captain Gilet.
And the crowd is not satisfied with suspecting you; they declare, hard
as iron, that you are the murderer. Monsieur Gilet is adored by all
the people, who--look at them!--want to take justice into their own
hands. Ah! didn't we see them, in 1830, dusting the jackets of the
tax-gatherers? whose life isn't a bed of roses, anyway!"
Joseph Bridau grew pale as death, and collected all his strength to
walk onward.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: noon between our ribs; and you have the strength of the still-
living. But what virtue have we? what power? or what jewel here in
the dust with us, that any living man should covet or receive it?
for we are less than nothing. But we tell you one thing, speaking
with many voices like bees, that the way is plain before all like
the grooves of launching: So forth into life and fear not, for so
did we all in the ancient ages." And their voices passed away like
an eddy in a river.
"Now," said the Poor Thing, "they have told you a lesson, but make
them give you a gift. Stoop your hand among the bones without
drawback, and you shall find their treasure."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: Of absolute prostration.
At such a moment ladies learn to give,
To partners who would urge them over-much,
A flat and yet decided negative -
Photographers love such.
There comes a welcome summons - hope revives,
And fading eyes grow bright, and pulses quicken:
Incessant pop the corks, and busy knives
Dispense the tongue and chicken.
Flushed with new life, the crowd flows back again:
And all is tangled talk and mazy motion -
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