| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: was, as he understood the dignified and serene acceptance of ill
fortune that was expressed in Gambara's mild and melancholy gaze.
After expecting to see one of the grotesque figures so often set
before us by German novelists and writers of /libretti/, he beheld a
simple, unpretentious man, whose manners and demeanor were in nothing
strange and did not lack dignity. Without the faintest trace of
luxury, his dress was more decent than might have been expected from
his extreme poverty, and his linen bore witness to the tender care
which watched over every detail of his existence. Andrea looked at
Marianna with moistened eyes; and she did not color, but half smiled,
in a way that betrayed, perhaps, some pride at this speechless homage.
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: unknown; but probably erected in the hope of gratifying some
mumbo jumbo whose very name is forgotten, by some thick-witted
gentry whose very bones are lost. Then the island (witness
the Directory) has been twice reported; and since my tenancy,
we have had two wrecks, both derelict. The rest is conjecture.'
'Dr Symonds is your partner, I guess?' said Davis.
'A dear fellow, Symonds! How he would regret it, if he knew
you had been here!' said Attwater.
"E's on the Trinity 'All, ain't he?' asked Huish.
'And if you could tell me where the Trinity 'All was, you
would confer a favour, Mr Whish!' was the reply.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 2 by Alexis de Toqueville: thing; the pure desire to know is another. I do not doubt that
in a few minds and far between, an ardent, inexhaustible love of
truth springs up, self-supported, and living in ceaseless
fruition without ever attaining the satisfaction which it seeks.
This ardent love it is - this proud, disinterested love of what
is true - which raises men to the abstract sources of truth, to
draw their mother-knowledge thence. If Pascal had had nothing in
view but some large gain, or even if he had been stimulated by
the love of fame alone, I cannot conceive that he would ever have
been able to rally all the powers of his mind, as he did, for the
better discovery of the most hidden things of the Creator. When
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