Moshe khayam luzato 1707 to 1747 states in his…
Moshe khayam luzato 1707 to 1747 states in his misilas yashram I have not composed this work to teach people what they don't already know but rather to remind them of what is well known to them indeed. For most of what I say is nothing more than what most people do know and have absolutely no doubts about. But what is said in the following pages is constantly ignored and most often forgotten because it is common knowledge and obvious. That's why no benefit or profit will be derived from a single reading of this book because after you read it the intelligent reader will find little there that's new. Only constant reading and rereading will prove beneficial. Then the reader will recall those things that they naturally tend to forget and take the heart obligations he tends to ignore. Key word is introduction to ethical will
— from Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue) · Hebrew Ethical Wills by Israel Abrahams
In the book
I am under no illusion that any of this is new to you. As Luzzatto wrote at the opening of his own book of guidance, he had not written it to teach people what they did not know, but to remind them of what they already knew and constantly forget — which is why he said you'd get nothing from a single reading, only from returning to it again and again. The essence of all of it is a kind of wisdom that is mostly humility, blended with a deep empathy for other people and a clear-eyed awareness of how frail we all are. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)