added a picture of george orwell--to the left, naturally--which is only fair enough since he is an/the inspiration for vain, selfish & lazy, in more ways than one. the following from "why i write," first published in gangrel, no. 4 (summer 1946), contains a familiar formulation:

looking back through the last page or two, i see that i have made it appear as though my motives in writing were wholly public-spirited. i don't want to leave that as the final impression. all writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives there lies a mystery. writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. one would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

two things i strive for on this site: always to be, at the minimum, "only fair enough"; never to write familiar formulations. in all things, to all things, i hope to be honest and equable, to do my level best to demonstrate, like hume's ideal critic, "strong sense, united to delicate sentiment, improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all prejudice."

a declaration of principles, if you will.