| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: the most circumspect attention, or steady rectitude,
escape blame from censors, who have no inclination
to approve. Riches therefore, perhaps, do not so
often produce crimes as incite accusers.
The common charge against those who rise above
their original condition, is that of pride. It is
certain that success naturally confirms us in a
favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man
is willing to allot to accident, friendship, and a
thousand causes, which concur in every event without
human contrivance or interposition, the part
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: him to its side--it was the bottom of a wave-washed derelict.
Tarzan clambered upon it--he would rest there until daylight
at least. He had no intention to remain there inactive--a prey
to hunger and thirst. If he must die he preferred dying in
action while making some semblance of an attempt to save himself.
The sea was quiet, so that the wreck had only a gently
undulating motion, that was nothing to the swimmer who
had had no sleep for twenty hours. Tarzan of the Apes
curled up upon the slimy timbers, and was soon asleep.
The heat of the sun awoke him early in the forenoon.
His first conscious sensation was of thirst, which grew
The Return of Tarzan |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: I would consult your young sagacity which is accredited to us by
the most loyal Dona Rita."
The sound of that name on his lips was simply odious. I was
convinced that this man of forms and ceremonies and fanatical
royalism was perfectly heartless. Perhaps he reflected on his
motives; but it seemed to me that his conscience could be nothing
else but a monstrous thing which very few actions could disturb
appreciably. Yet for the credit of Dona Rita I did not withhold
from him my young sagacity. What he thought of it I don't know,
The matters we discussed were not of course of high policy, though
from the point of view of the war in the south they were important
The Arrow of Gold |
