| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: kind of idolatry. Neither criticism nor experience allows us to suppose
that there are interferences with the laws of nature; the idea is
inconceivable to us and at variance with facts. The philosopher or
theologian who could realize to mankind that a person is a law, that the
higher rule has no exception, that goodness, like knowledge, is also power,
would breathe a new religious life into the world.
c. Besides the imaginary rule of a philosopher or a God, the actual forms
of government have to be considered. In the infancy of political science,
men naturally ask whether the rule of the many or of the few is to be
preferred. If by 'the few' we mean 'the good' and by 'the many,' 'the
bad,' there can be but one reply: 'The rule of one good man is better than
Statesman |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: compliments. So she tossed her pretty head, and taking Don Pedro
by the hand, she walked slowly down the steps towards a long
pavilion of purple silk that had been erected at the end of the
garden, the other children following in strict order of precedence,
those who had the longest names going first.
A procession of noble boys, fantastically dressed as TOREADORS,
came out to meet her, and the young Count of Tierra-Nueva, a
wonderfully handsome lad of about fourteen years of age, uncovering
his head with all the grace of a born hidalgo and grandee of Spain,
led her solemnly in to a little gilt and ivory chair that was
placed on a raised dais above the arena. The children grouped
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: "I am always very glad to see your countrymen," Mr. Westgate pursued.
"I thought it would be time some of you should be coming along.
A friend of mine was saying to me only a day or two ago, 'It's time
for the watermelons and the Englishmen."
"The Englishmen and the watermelons just now are about the same thing,"
Percy Beaumont observed, wiping his dripping forehead.
"Ah, well, we'll put you on ice, as we do the melons.
You must go down to Newport."
"We'll go anywhere," said Lord Lambeth.
"Yes, you want to go to Newport; that's what you want to do,"
Mr. Westgate affirmed. "But let's see--when did you get here?"
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