| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: another poor wretch who seems to be enjoying himself!"
The Colonel, meanwhile, with one shoulder leaning lightly against the
side-post of the doorway between the ballroom and the cardroom, could
laugh undetected under his ample moustache; it amused him to look on
at the turmoil of the dance; he could see a hundred pretty heads
turning about in obedience to the figures; he could read in some
faces, as in those of the Countess and his friend Martial, the secrets
of their agitation; and then, looking round, he wondered what
connection there could be between the gloomy looks of the Comte de
Soulanges, still seated on the sofa, and the plaintive expression of
the fair unknown, on whose features the joys of hope and the anguish
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: side of my bed where I sat, into the cabin. However, the men
roused me, and told me that I, that was able to do nothing before,
was as well able to pump as another; at which I stirred up and went
to the pump, and worked very heartily. While this was doing the
master, seeing some light colliers, who, not able to ride out the
storm were obliged to slip and run away to sea, and would come near
us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal of distress. I, who knew
nothing what they meant, thought the ship had broken, or some
dreadful thing happened. In a word, I was so surprised that I fell
down in a swoon. As this was a time when everybody had his own
life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but
Robinson Crusoe |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: most ancient civilized nations of Europe, including even those in
which the administration is most central, have not succeeded, as
yet, in determining the exact condition of their wealth.
In America the attempt has never been made; for how would
such an investigation be possible in a country where society has
not yet settled into habits of regularity and tranquillity; where
the national Government is not assisted by a multiple of agents
whose exertions it can command and direct to one sole end; and
where statistics are not studied, because no one is able to
collect the necessary documents, or to find time to peruse them?
Thus the primary elements of the calculations which have been
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