| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gorgias by Plato: which he described to Polus, he may be the physician who is tried by a jury
of children. He cannot say that he has procured the citizens any pleasure,
and if any one charges him with perplexing them, or with reviling their
elders, he will not be able to make them understand that he has only been
actuated by a desire for their good. And therefore there is no saying what
his fate may be. 'And do you think that a man who is unable to help
himself is in a good condition?' Yes, Callicles, if he have the true self-
help, which is never to have said or done any wrong to himself or others.
If I had not this kind of self-help, I should be ashamed; but if I die for
want of your flattering rhetoric, I shall die in peace. For death is no
evil, but to go to the world below laden with offences is the worst of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: After the lapse of a few days he found himself hoping that she
would write again. But he received no further communication;
and in the intensity of his solicitude he sent another note,
suggesting that he should pay her a visit some Sunday, the distance
being under eighteen miles.
He expected a reply on the second morning after despatching his missive;
but none came. The third morning arrived; the postman did not stop.
This was Saturday, and in a feverish state of anxiety about her he sent off
three brief lines stating that he was coming the following day, for he felt
sure something had happened.
His first and natural thought had been that she was ill from her immersion;
Jude the Obscure |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: here I find you playing the fool at Padwick.'
'Please, Mr Bloomfield, you must not be hard on Mr Forsyth,' said
Julia. 'Poor boy, he is in dreadful straits.'
'What's this, Gid?' enquired the uncle. 'Have you been fighting?
or is it a bill?'
These, in the opinion of the Squirradical, were the two
misfortunes incident to gentlemen; and indeed both were culled
from his own career. He had once put his name (as a matter of
form) on a friend's paper; it had cost him a cool thousand; and
the friend had gone about with the fear of death upon him ever
since, and never turned a corner without scouting in front of him
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