| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: counsels,' he added, almost gloomily. 'If I had not seen you at
work, if I did not know the fertility of your mind, I own I should
tremble for the consequence. But it is in this field that men must
recognise their inability. All the great negotiators, when they
have not been women, have had women at their elbows. Madame de
Pompadour was ill served; she had not found her Gondremark; but what
a mighty politician! Catherine de' Medici, too, what justice of
sight, what readiness of means, what elasticity against defeat! But
alas! madam, her Featherheads were her own children; and she had
that one touch of vulgarity, that one trait of the good-wife, that
she suffered family ties and affections to confine her liberty.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Inaugural Address by John F. Kennedy: each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony
to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered
the call to service surround the globe. Now the trumpet summons us again. . .
not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need. . .not as a call to battle. . .
though embattled we are. . .but a call to bear the burden of a long
twilight struggle. . .year in and year out, rejoicing in hope,
patient in tribulation. . .a struggle against the common enemies of man:
tyranny. . .poverty. . .disease. . .and war itself. Can we forge against
these enemies a grand and global alliance. . .North and South. . .
East and West. . .that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?
Will you join in that historic effort?
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: bellies in the matter of appetite, and you will succeed in winning
much from them.[11] But ambitious, emulous natures feel the spur of
praise,[12] since some natures hunger after praise no less than others
crave for meats and drinks. My practice then is to instruct those whom
I desire to appoint as my bailiffs in the various methods which I have
found myself to be successful in gaining the obedience of my fellows.
To take an instance: There are clothes and shows and so forth, with
which I must provide my workfolk.[13] Well, then, I see to it that
these are not all alike in make;[14] but some will be of better, some
of less good quality: my object being that these articles for use
shall vary with the service of the wearer; the worse man will receive
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