Many times did I take up my pen to write it, and many did I lay it down again, not knowing what to write. One of these times, as I was pondering with the paper before me, a pen in my ear, my elbow on the desk, and my cheek in my hand, thinking of what I should say, there came in unexpectedly a certain lively, clever friend of mine, who, seeing me so deep in thought, asked the reason; to which I, making no mystery of it, answered that I was thinking of the Preface I had to make for the story of "Don Quixote," which so troubled me that I had a mind not to make any at all, nor even publish the achievements of so noble a knight.
Muchas veces tomé la pluma para escribille, y muchas la dejé, por no saber lo que escribiría; y, estando una suspenso, con el papel delante, la pluma en la oreja, el codo en el bufete y la mano en la mejilla, pensando lo que diría, entró a deshora un amigo mío, gracioso y bien entendido, el cual, viéndome tan imaginativo, me preguntó la causa; y, no encubriéndosela yo, le dije que pensaba en el prólogo que había de hacer a la historia de don Quijote, y que me tenía de suerte que ni quería hacerle, ni menos sacar a luz las hazañas de tan noble caballero.