| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: confirming Hargrave's intimations respecting his approaching
return. And he did come next week, but in a condition of body and
mind even worse than before. I did not, however, intend to pass
over his derelictions this time without a remark; I found it would
not do. But the first day he was weary with his journey, and I was
glad to get him back: I would not upbraid him then; I would wait
till to-morrow. Next morning he was weary still: I would wait a
little longer. But at dinner, when, after breakfasting at twelve
o'clock on a bottle of soda-water and a cup of strong coffee, and
lunching at two on another bottle of soda-water mingled with
brandy, he was finding fault with everything on the table, and
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond the
bound of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion, and they
sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities. This contrast
ought not to surprise us. There is one sort of ignorance which
originates in extreme publicity. In despotic States men know not
how to act, because they are told nothing; in democratic nations
they often act at random, because nothing is to be left untold.
The former do not know - the latter forget; and the chief
features of each picture are lost to them in a bewilderment of
details.
It is astonishing what imprudent language a public man may
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: [12] Cf. "Hell." II. iv. 6; VII. i. 16.
As to vedettes and advanced outposts, you should never cease planning
and plotting against them. For these in their turn, as a rule, are apt
to consist of small numbers, and are sometimes posted at a great
distance from their own main body. But if after all it turns out that
the enemy are well on their guard against all such attempts, then, God
helping, it would be a feat of arms to steal into the enemy's country,
first making it your business to ascertain[13] his defences, the
number of men at this, that, and the other point, and how they are
distributed throughout the country. For there is no booty so splendid
as an outpost so overmastered; and these frontier outposts are
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