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Hello fellow Wikipedians!

My name is Rilkas and I am fairly new to Wikipedia.

Mostly what I enjoy doing here is correcting grammatical and stylistic errors in articles written by contributors whose first language is not English. I am one of those odd people who enjoys copyediting. I also like to help translate articles into English.

Areas in which I am somewhat knowledgeable include: linguistics, music, literature and history.

Areas which interest me, but which I am not very knowledgeable about, include: typography, cartography and geography, stenography, anthropology, bridge (card game) and the history of science.

Feel free to contact me if you think I could help with an article you are writing.

Tip of the day... Guestbooks Wikipedia Guestbooks, according to Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales, "can help build a spirit of friendliness and co-operation, and help people get to know each other as human beings". All Wikipedia users are welcome to create a guestbook and give permission to other users to sign it. However, creating a guestbook is also a privilege; many users have been blocked just due to begging for someone to sign their guestbook. Guestbook cautions Do not beg others to sign your guestbook. Users eventually will come to see your user page, and many will click your guestbook and sign it without being asked. Never ask a user to sign your guestbook by posting that message on a talk page. Be patient. Users will eventually come. After all, you should not be here only to see who signed your guestbook... You are here to build an encyclopedia: Do not spend your WikiTime only signing guestbooks. It may be fun, but users may see you as a person not here to contribute. Guestbooks are not a soapbox. Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip Become a Wikipedia tipster To add this auto-updating template to your user page, use ((tip of the day))

Below are some quotations I especially like:

Maximes de François de La Rochefoucauld:

Pour bien savoir les choses, il en faut savoir le détail; et comme il est presque infini, nos connaissances sont toujours superficielles et imparfaites.

Le soleil ni la mort ne se peuvent regarder fixement.

Nous avons plus de force que de volonté; et c’est souvent pour nous excuser à nous-mêmes que nous nous imaginons que les choses sont impossibles.

La félicité est dans le goût et non pas dans les choses; et c’est par avoir ce qu’on aime qu’on est heureux, et non par avoir ce que les autres trouvent aimable.

Tout le monde se plaint de sa mémoire, et personne ne se plaint de son jugement.

La politesse de l’esprit consiste à penser des choses honnêtes et délicates.

Les hommes et les affaires ont leur point de perspective. Il y en a qu’il faut voir de près pour en bien juger, et d’autres dont on ne juge jamais si bien que quand on en est éloigné.

Nous sommes si accoutumés à nous déguiser aux autres qu’enfin nous nous déguisons à nous-mêmes.

La trop grande subtilité est une fausse délicatesse, et la véritable délicatesse est une solide subtilité.

Les seules bonnes copies sont celles qui nous font voir le ridicule des méchants originaux.

On est quelquefois aussi différent de soi-même que des autres.

Les vertus se perdent dans l’intérêt, comme les fleuves se perdent dans la mer.