| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: flattered his passions. From the first he saw his old father laughing
with the Chevalier. The two elderly men considered that the pride of a
d'Esgrignon was a sufficient safeguard against anything unbefitting;
as for a dishonorable action, no one in the house imagined that a
d'Esgrignon could be guilty of it. HONOR, the great principle of
Monarchy, was planted firm like a beacon in the hearts of the family;
it lighted up the least action, it kindled the least thought of a
d'Esgrignon. "A d'Esgrignon ought not to permit himself to do such and
such a thing; he bears a name which pledges him to make a future
worthy of the past"--a noble teaching which should have been
sufficient in itself to keep alive the tradition of noblesse--had
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'I thank you for the word, mademoiselle,' said I. 'All the more
since there are people who call out to me that it is like a
coffin.'
'Oh! but it is really like a violin. It is finished like a
violin,' she went on.
'And polished like a violin,' added a senator.
'One has only to stretch the cords,' concluded another, 'and then
tum-tumty-tum' - he imitated the result with spirit.
Was not this a graceful little ovation? Where this people finds
the secret of its pretty speeches, I cannot imagine; unless the
secret should be no other than a sincere desire to please? But then
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Case of the Golden Bullet by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: "But you know that we will have to close the apartment officially,"
said Horn, his voice sharpening in his surprise and displeasure.
"I do not need to be in these rooms any longer."
"Don't let them disturb you, my dear Muller; we will allow your
keenness all possible leeway here." The Head of Police spoke with
calm politeness, but Muller started and shivered. The emphasis on
the "here" showed him that even the head of the department had been
incensed at his suggestion that the beautiful Mrs. Kniepp had died
of her own free will. It had been his assertion of this which,
coming to the ears of the bereaved husband, had enraged and
embittered him, and had turned the power of his influence with the
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