| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: Pheidias as well as the grace of Praxiteles. Hence came their
objection to realism. They disliked it on purely social grounds.
They felt that it inevitably makes people ugly, and they were
perfectly right. We try to improve the conditions of the race by
means of good air, free sunlight, wholesome water, and hideous bare
buildings for the better housing of the lower orders. But these
things merely produce health, they do not produce beauty. For
this, Art is required, and the true disciples of the great artist
are not his studio-imitators, but those who become like his works
of art, be they plastic as in Greek days, or pictorial as in modern
times; in a word, Life is Art's best, Art's only pupil.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Memorabilia by Xenophon: to which I have come, as already stated: good and upright you may be,
since you do not cheat people from pure selfishness; but wise you
cannot be, since your knowledge is not worth a cent.
[6] Or rather "money," lit. "silver."
To this onslaught Socrates: Antiphon, it is a tenet which we cling to
that beauty and wisdom have this in common, that there is a fair way
and a foul way in which to dispose of them. The vendor of beauty
purchases an evil name, but supposing the same person have discerned a
soul of beauty in his lover and makes that man his friend, we regard
his choice as sensible.[7] So is it with wisdom; he who sells it for
money to the first bidder we name a sophist,[8] as though one should
The Memorabilia |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: from his seat to greet the strangers, but after glaring
at them he looked away with a scowl, as if they were of
too little importance to interest him.
The tin men returned this man's stare with interest,
but they did not look away from him because neither of
them seemed able to take his eyes off this Munchkin,
who was remarkable in having one tin arm quite like
their own tin arms.
"Seems to me," said Captain Fyter, in a voice that
sounded harsh and indignant, "that you, sir, are a vile
impostor!"
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
