| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: differing ways. To my mind, the duke and peer owe far more to the
workman and the pauper than the pauper and the workman owe to the
duke. The obligations of duty enlarge in proportion to the
benefits which society bestows on men; in accordance with the
maxim, as true in social politics as in business, that the burden
of care and vigilance is everywhere in proportion to profits. Each
man pays his debt in his own way. When our poor toiler at the
Rhetoriere comes home weary with his day's work has he not done
his duty? Assuredly he has done it better than many in the ranks
above him.
If you take this view of society, in which you are about to seek a
 The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: rather), scattered over an almost uninhabited low-lying waste, where
the fences are heaps of earth and bones. It was a desolate-looking
place, a fitting refuge for despair and misery.
The sight of it appeared to make an impression upon the relentless
pursuer of a poor creature so daring as to walk alone at night through
the silent streets. He stood in thought, and seemed by his attitude to
hesitate. She could see him dimly now, under the street lamp that sent
a faint, flickering light through the fog. Fear gave her eyes. She
saw, or thought she saw, something sinister about the stranger's
features. Her old terrors awoke; she took advantage of a kind of
hesitation on his part, slipped through the shadows to the door of the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw: Whitman.
LORD SUMMERHAYS. I shall go to the billiard room and get the balls
for you.
LINA. Thank you.
_Lord Summerhays goes out through the vestibule door._
TARLETON. _[going to her]_ Listen to me. _[She turns quickly]._
What you said just now was beautiful. You touch chords. You appeal
to the poetry in a man. You inspire him. Come now! Youre a woman of
the world: youre independent: you must have driven lots of men
crazy. You know the sort of man I am, dont you? See through me at a
glance, eh?
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