TEXT I

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

(DICKENS, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Penguin Books, 1994.)

TEXT II

Franval who lived in Paris, where he was born, possessed, along with an income of 400,000 livres, the finest figure, the most pleasant face and the most varied talents; but beneath this attractive exterior lay hidden every vice, and unfortunately those of which the adoption and habitual indulgence lead so rapidly to crime. An imagination more unbridled than anything one can depict was Franval’s prime defect; men of this kind do not mend their ways, the decline of power makes them worse; the less they do, the more they undertake; the less they achieve, the more they invent; each age brings new ideas, and satiety, far from cooling their ardour, only prepares the way for more fatal refinements.

(SADE, Marquis de. The Gothic Tales of the Marquis de Sade. 2000.)