If you would have a smooth trunk, straight branches, satiny leaves, apply to the pale birch, the hollow elder, the weeping willow; but leave the mighty oak in peace.

Do not stone that which gives you shade.
The author of this book knows as well as any one the numerous and gross faults of his works.

If it happens too seldom that he corrects them, it is because it is repugnant to him to return to a work that has grown cold.

Moreover, what has he ever done that is worth that trouble?
The labor that he would throw away in correcting the imperfections of his books, he prefers to use in purging his intellect of its defects.

It is his method to correct one work only in another work.
However, no matter what treatment may be accorded his book, he binds himself not to defend it, in whole or in part.