It therefore takes a lot of repetition to accomplish…
It therefore takes a lot of repetition to accomplish these goals. Even when an artist is trying to paint a picture or a composer is trying to create a piece of music, the artist and the composer are going to go over their work of art multiple times and add new layers and do new things to make the painting a more beautiful piece. This is what makes the composer or the artist an artist. He is taking many layers of existing things that are known and refining them and recreating them until they become something unique that is geared for you.
— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · Hebrew Ethical Wills by Israel Abrahams
In the book
What I hope you feel when you read it is two things, which to me are nearly the same thing: enlightened — that you learned something true and useful you didn't have before — and uplifted, with a little of the weight lifted off your shoulders. How to read it. Think of what follows not as commandments carved in stone but as brush strokes. An artist builds a painting in layers, going over it again and again, refining what is already there until it becomes something uniquely his own. I am only sketching a few suggested strokes to help you begin your own canvas; you are the exclusive artist of your life, free to add to mine and to paint right over it. — Before Takeoff (front matter)
So think of what follows not as commandments but as brush strokes. An artist builds a painting in layers, going over the work again and again, refining what is already there until it becomes something uniquely his. I am only sketching in a few suggested strokes to help you begin; you are the exclusive artist of your own canvas, free to add to mine and to paint over it — I ask only that you give my strokes serious thought before you wipe them away. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)