| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: What priceless wealth the heavens had him lent
In the possession of his beauteous mate;
Reckoning his fortune at such high-proud rate,
That kings might be espoused to more fame,
But king nor peer to such a peerless dame.
O happiness enjoy'd but of a few!
And, if possess'd, as soon decay'd and done
As is the morning's silver-melting dew
Against the golden splendour of the sun!
An expir'd date, cancell'd ere well begun:
Honour and beauty, in the owner's arms,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: of fifty-five sous,--which she would gaze at for a long time before
she could bring herself to change it. As a general thing the Sauviats
ate herrings, dried peas, cheese, hard eggs in salad, vegetables
seasoned in the cheapest manner. Never did they lay in provisions,
except perhaps a bunch of garlic or onions, which could not spoil and
cost but little. The small amount of wood they burned in winter they
bought of itinerant sellers day by day. By seven in winter, by nine in
summer, the household was in bed, and the shop was closed and guarded
by a huge dog, which got its living from the kitchens in the
neighborhood. Madame Sauviat used about three francs' worth of candles
in the course of the year.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged
ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest
shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!
An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable
an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week,
or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British
guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but
irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance
by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until
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