| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: manly for restraint. But his levity overcame this
salutary sorrow; he began to talk with his former
raptures of masquerades, taverns, and frolicks;
blustered when his wig was not combed with exactness;
and threatened destruction to a tailor who had
mistaken his directions about the pocket.
I knew that he was now rising again above
control, and that his inflation of spirits would burst
out into some mischievous absurdity. I therefore
watched him with great attention; but one evening,
having attended his mother at a visit, he withdrew
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: upon a precipice. They talk to us about the immorality of the
/Liaisons Dangereuses/, and any other book you like with a vulgar
reputation; but there exists a book, horrible, filthy, fearful,
corrupting, which is always open and will never be shut, the great
book of the world; not to mention another book, a thousand times more
dangerous, which is composed of all that men whisper into each other's
ears, or women murmur behind their fans, of an evening in society."
"Henri, there is certainly something extraordinary the matter with
you; that is obvious in spite of your active discretion."
"Yes! . . . Come, I must kill the time until this evening. Let's to
the tables. . . . Perhaps I shall have the good luck to lose."
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: aspect to follow him to the parlour-door, where he announced him
in the voice of a gentleman-usher. 'Mr Chester.'
'And not Mr Ed'dard, mind,' said Sim, looking into the door again,
and adding this by way of postscript in his own person; 'it's his
father.'
'But do not let his father,' said Mr Chester, advancing hat in
hand, as he observed the effect of this last explanatory
announcement, 'do not let his father be any check or restraint on
your domestic occupations, Miss Varden.'
'Oh! Now! There! An't I always a-saying it!' exclaimed Miggs,
clapping her hands. 'If he an't been and took Missis for her own
Barnaby Rudge |
