| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: of being led, or carried because it is in the state of being carried, but
the converse of this. And now I think, Euthyphro, that my meaning will be
intelligible; and my meaning is, that any state of action or passion
implies previous action or passion. It does not become because it is
becoming, but it is in a state of becoming because it becomes; neither does
it suffer because it is in a state of suffering, but it is in a state of
suffering because it suffers. Do you not agree?
EUTHYPHRO: Yes.
SOCRATES: Is not that which is loved in some state either of becoming or
suffering?
EUTHYPHRO: Yes.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: of bricks and timber, and kept going by the price of stocks.
We are all tempted, and the easier and more prosperous we are, the
more we are tempted, to fall into that sordid and shallow frame of
mind. Sordid even when its projects are most daring, its outward
luxuries most refined; and shallow, even when most acute, when
priding itself most on its knowledge of human nature, and of the
secret springs which, so it dreams, move the actions and make the
history of nations and of men. All are tempted that way, even the
noblest-hearted. ADHAESIT PAVIMENTO VENTER, says the old psalmist.
I am growing like the snake, crawling in the dust, and eating the
dust in which I crawl. I try to lift up my eyes to the heavens, to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: "Deafer than the blue-eyed cat."
But whichever theory you adopt, in practice, if you are a wise
fisherman, you will steer a middle course, between one thing which
must be left undone and another thing which should be done. You
will refrain from stamping on the bank, or knocking on the side of
the boat, or dragging the anchor among the stones on the bottom; for
when the water vibrates the fish are likely to vanish. But you will
indulge as freely as you please in pleasant discourse with your
comrade; for it is certain that fishing is never hindered, and may
even be helped, in one way or another, by good talk.
I should therefore have no hesitation in advising any one to choose,
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