The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: he has run through the whole compass of flattery,
dismiss him with contempt, because his vein of fiction
is exhausted.
A continual feast of commendation is only to be
obtained by merit or by wealth; many are therefore
obliged to content themselves with single morsels,
and recompense the infrequency of their enjoyment
by excess and riot, whenever fortune sets the banquet
before them. Hunger is never delicate; they
who are seldom gorged to the full with praise, may
be safely fed with gross compliments; for the appetite
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: of whom appeared to be ladies and very young children;
and in the big saloons, ornamented in white and gold,
which followed each other in surprising succession,
beneath the swinging gaslight, and among the small side
passages where the Negro domestics of both sexes assembled
with an air of philosophic leisure, everyone was moving
to and fro and exchanging loud and familiar observations.
Eventually, at the instance of a discriminating black,
our young men went and had some "supper" in a wonderful
place arranged like a theater, where, in a gilded gallery,
upon which little boxes appeared to open, a large orchestra
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: examining whenever it seemed good to her, and passing in review the
several chattels, just as the officer in command of a garrison[16]
musters and reviews his men. She must apply her scrutiny and see that
everything was well, even as the Senate[17] tests the condition of the
Knights and of their horses.[18] Like a queen, she must bestow,
according to the power vested in her, praise and honour on the well-
deserving, but blame and chastisement on him who stood in need
thereof.
[15] See Plat. "Laws," vi. 755 A, 770 C; Aristot. "Pol." iii. 15, 1287
A; iv. 14, 1298 B; vi. 8, 1323 A; "Ath. Pol." viii. 4; and Cic.
ap. Col. xii. 3. 10 f. Holden cf. Cic. "de Legg." iii. 20, S. 46;
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