| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Reason Discourse by Rene Descartes: And forasmuch as, while thus indifferent to the thought alike of fame or
of forgetfulness, I have yet been unable to prevent myself from acquiring
some sort of reputation, I have thought it incumbent on me to do my best
to save myself at least from being ill-spoken of. The other reason that
has determined me to commit to writing these specimens of philosophy is,
that I am becoming daily more and more alive to the delay which my design
of self-instruction suffers, for want of the infinity of experiments I
require, and which it is impossible for me to make without the assistance
of others: and, without flattering myself so much as to expect the public
to take a large share in my interests, I am yet unwilling to be found so
far wanting in the duty I owe to myself, as to give occasion to those who
Reason Discourse |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: proportion.
The young men rejoice in the days of their youth. They gamble,
yacht, race, enjoy prize-fights and cock-fights, the one openly,
the other in secret; they establish luxurious clubs; they break
themselves over horse-flesh and other things, and they are
instant in a quarrel. At twenty they are experienced in
business, embark in vast enterprises, take partners as
experienced as themselves, and go to pieces with as much splendor
as their neighbors. Remember that the men who stocked California
in the fifties were physically, and, as far as regards certain
tough virtues, the pick of the earth. The inept and the weakly
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Wat'ry flakes and jets are falling,
Mingling with their melodies.
But all of them say:
Her only we mean;
But all fly away,
As soon as she's seen,--
The beauteous young maiden,
With graces so rife,
Then lily and rose
In wreaths are entwining;
In dancing combining,
|
