| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Princess by Alfred Tennyson: But when I dwelt upon your old affiance,
She answered sharply that I talked astray.
I urged the fierce inscription on the gate,
And our three lives. True--we had limed ourselves
With open eyes, and we must take the chance.
But such extremes, I told her, well might harm
The woman's cause. "Not more than now," she said,
"So puddled as it is with favouritism."
I tried the mother's heart. Shame might befall
Melissa, knowing, saying not she knew:
Her answer was "Leave me to deal with that."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or
throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather
than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour
of danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to the
bravest, at such a time; Love would inspire him. That courage which, as
Homer says, the god breathes into the souls of some heroes, Love of his own
nature infuses into the lover.
Love will make men dare to die for their beloved--love alone; and women as
well as men. Of this, Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, is a monument to
all Hellas; for she was willing to lay down her life on behalf of her
husband, when no one else would, although he had a father and mother; but
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: this delay.'
'Madam, I said "honourable,"' returned Otto, bowing. 'This war is,
in my eyes, and by Herr von Gondremark's account, an inadmissible
expedient. If we have misgoverned here in Grunewald, are the people
of Gerolstein to bleed and pay for our mis-doings? Never, madam;
not while I live. But I attach so much importance to all that I
have heard to-day for the first time - and why only to-day, I do not
even stop to ask - that I am eager to find some plan that I can
follow with credit to myself.'
'And should you fail?' she asked.
'Should I fail, I will then meet the blow half-way,' replied the
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