“ I write for the beauty of the printed word"from PREFACE to BIPOLAR BUFFALO”

“It is wonderful how Virtue turns from dirty stockings; and how Vice, married to ribbons and a little gay attire, changes her name, as wedded ladies do, and becomes Romance." ---From Charles Dickens' Preface to Oliver Twist, printed in 1841”

“It is a melancholy illusion of those who write books and articles that the printed word survives. Alas, it rarely does.”

“I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.”

“The preface? Why would he waste time with the preface? Skip the preface and move on to the meat of the thing!”

“That, incidentally, gives me the greatest possible pleasure—the knowledge that we are all linked by our friendship with a group of fictional people. What a pleasant club of which to be a member! [from the preface; on writing for people around the world]”