| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: CHAPTER XV
O knight, thou lack'st a cup of canary. When did I see thee
so put down?--Twelfth Night.
Several knocks, as from the knuckles of an iron glove, were given
to the door of the cottage, and a voice was heard entreating
shelter from the storm for a traveller who had lost his way.
Robin arose and went to the door.
"What are you?" said Robin.
"A soldier," replied the voice: "an unfortunate adherent of Longchamp,
flying the vengeance of Prince John."
"Are you alone?" said Robin.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: career in which the temptations to malfeasance or dishonesty are
reduced to the minimum. On the other hand, in a country where
intelligence and training have no surety that they are to carry
the day against stupidity and inefficiency, the incentives to
dishonourable conduct are overpowering. The result in our own
political life is that the best men are driven in disgust from
politics, and thus one of the noblest fields for the culture of
the whole man is given over to be worked by swindlers and
charlatans. To an Athenian such a severance of the highest
culture from political life would have been utterly
inconceivable. Obviously the deepest explanation of all this lies
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: by signs. Soon the nature of the soil changed; to the sandy plain
succeeded an extent of slimy mud which the Americans call "ooze,"
composed of equal parts of silicious and calcareous shells. We then
travelled over a plain of seaweed of wild and luxuriant vegetation.
This sward was of close texture, and soft to the feet,
and rivalled the softest carpet woven by the hand of man.
But whilst verdure was spread at our feet, it did not abandon our heads.
A light network of marine plants, of that inexhaustible family
of seaweeds of which more than two thousand kinds are known,
grew on the surface of the water.
I noticed that the green plants kept nearer the top of the sea,
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
