| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: at him with that mournful gaze, as if she had come back to him
from the dead to tell him of her misery.
She was clinging close to Dinah; her cheek was against Dinah's.
It seemed as if her last faint strength and hope lay in that
contact, and the pitying love that shone out from Dinah's face
looked like a visible pledge of the Invisible Mercy.
When the sad eyes met--when Hetty and Adam looked at each other--
she felt the change in him too, and it seemed to strike her with
fresh fear. It was the first time she had seen any being whose
face seemed to reflect the change in herself: Adam was a new image
of the dreadful past and the dreadful present. She trembled more
Adam Bede |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [46] Reading {knisma}, "scratching." Plat. "Hipp. maj." 304 A. Al.
{knesma}.
[47] See Jebb, "Theophr. Ch." xxiv. 16.
So pell-mell they went at it, half jest half earnest, and so the
medley ended. Callias here called on Charmides.
Call. Now, Charmides, it lies with you to tell us why you pride
yourself on poverty.[48]
[48] Zeune, cf. "Cyrop." VIII. iii. 35-50.
Charmides responded: On all hands it is admitted, I believe, that
confidence is better than alarm; better to be a freeman than a slave;
better to be worshipped than pay court to others; better to be trusted
The Symposium |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: day's work, they spent the evening jollily; but on our idle days
they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their pork,
the bread, etc., and in continual ill-humor, which put me in mind
of a sea-captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly
at work; and, when his mate once told him that they had done
every thing, and there was nothing further to employ them about,
"Oh," says he, "Make them scour the anchor."
This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defense
against Indians, who have no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted
securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventur'd
out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with no Indians,
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
