| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care,
as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.
Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part;
and I shall perform it so far as practicable, unless my
rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the
requisite means, or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary.
I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the
declared purpose of the Union that it WILL Constitutionally
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: being swift desired to be swift, or being healthy desired to be healthy, in
that case he might be thought to desire something which he already has or
is. I give the example in order that we may avoid misconception. For the
possessors of these qualities, Agathon, must be supposed to have their
respective advantages at the time, whether they choose or not; and who can
desire that which he has? Therefore, when a person says, I am well and
wish to be well, or I am rich and wish to be rich, and I desire simply to
have what I have--to him we shall reply: 'You, my friend, having wealth
and health and strength, want to have the continuance of them; for at this
moment, whether you choose or no, you have them. And when you say, I
desire that which I have and nothing else, is not your meaning that you
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Meno by Plato: are at all right in our view, that virtue is neither natural nor acquired,
but an instinct given by God to the virtuous. Nor is the instinct
accompanied by reason, unless there may be supposed to be among statesmen
some one who is capable of educating statesmen. And if there be such an
one, he may be said to be among the living what Homer says that Tiresias
was among the dead, 'he alone has understanding; but the rest are flitting
shades'; and he and his virtue in like manner will be a reality among
shadows.
MENO: That is excellent, Socrates.
SOCRATES: Then, Meno, the conclusion is that virtue comes to the virtuous
by the gift of God. But we shall never know the certain truth until,
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