diff --git a/README b/README
index b9d0d59..adc486a 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 sofort: portable software project template
 ------------------------------------------
 
+motivation
+----------
+* take care of the elements that are common to all
+  (of my) cross-platform C projects, and which, for
+  the most part, do not (or at least should not)
+  contain any project-specific bits:
+  --> the build system;
+  --> the argv parser and usage screen generator;
+  --> the initial program driver;
+  --> and initial front-end utility.
+* zero external dependencies: the new project is
+  generated from the template project using basic
+  shell utilities, specifically cp, grep, and sed.
+
 build system
 ------------
 * the project is conceived as a library with