| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: To cause constellations of victories to flash forth at each instant
from the zenith of the centuries, to make the French Empire a pendant
to the Roman Empire, to be the great nation and to give birth to
the grand army, to make its legions fly forth over all the earth,
as a mountain sends out its eagles on all sides to conquer,
to dominate, to strike with lightning, to be in Europe a sort
of nation gilded through glory, to sound athwart the centuries
a trumpet-blast of Titans, to conquer the world twice, by conquest
and by dazzling, that is sublime; and what greater thing is there?"
"To be free," said Combeferre.
Marius lowered his head in his turn; that cold and simple
Les Miserables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE,
security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows,
that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us,
with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.
In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of
government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some
sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will
then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world.
In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought.
A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man
is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual
Common Sense |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: said he, "does this man thus intrude upon me? Shall I never be
suffered to forget these lectures, which pleased only while they
were new, and to become new again must be forgotten?" He then
walked into the wood, and composed himself to his usual
meditations; when, before his thoughts had taken any settled form,
he perceived his pursuer at his side, and was at first prompted by
his impatience to go hastily away; but being unwilling to offend a
man whom he had once reverenced and still loved, he invited him to
sit down with him on the bank.
The old man, thus encouraged, began to lament the change which had
been lately observed in the Prince, and to inquire why he so often
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