Vooraf

'The habit of recording is first of all likely to generate a desire to have something of interest to record; it will exercise the memory and sharpen the understanding generally; and though the thoughts may not be very profound, nor the remarks very lively and ingenious, nor the narrative of exceeding interest, still the exercise is, I think, calculated to make the writer wiser and perhaps better.'
Charles C.F. Greville in Sara Fanelli's Dear Diary.