| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: compelled to lean upon them.
[14] Lit. "he must at one and the same moment guard against them, and
yet be driven also to depend upon them."
But be assured, Simonides, that when a tyrant fears any of his
citizens, he is in a strait; it is ill work to see them living and ill
work to put them to the death. Just as might happen with a horse; a
noble beast, but there is that in him makes one fear he will do some
mischief presently past curing.[15] His very virtue makes it hard to
kill the creature, and yet to turn him to account alive is also hard;
so careful must one be, he does not choose the thick of danger to work
irreparable harm. And this, further, doubtless holds of all goods and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: which live in there, which she calls fish, for she continues to
fasten names on to things that don't need them and don't come when
they are called by them, which is a matter of no consequence to
her, as she is such a numskull anyway; so she got a lot of them
out and brought them in last night and put them in my bed to keep
warm, but I have noticed them now and then all day, and I don't
see that they are any happier there than they were before, only
quieter. When night comes I shall throw them out-doors. I will
not sleep with them again, for I find them clammy and unpleasant
to lie among when a person hasn't anything on.
Sunday
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: conceive how this was managed. But here was a stranger thing
before his eyes; for John Vandeleur, it appeared, carried diamonds
in the lining of his sleeve; and even as the young clergyman gazed,
he could see one glittering brilliant drop after another into the
hat-box.
He stood riveted to the spot, following this unusual business with
his eyes. The diamonds were, for the most part, small, and not
easily distinguishable either in shape or fire. Suddenly the
Dictator appeared to find a difficulty; he employed both hands and
stooped over his task; but it was not until after considerable
manoeuvring that he extricated a large tiara of diamonds from the
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