Many of the things that I will be saying…
Many of the things that I will be saying will be derived from various safarim and besookum. In some cases I may quote them and in others I may not.
— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · Hebrew Ethical Wills by Israel Abrahams
In the book
I am betting that the context and the fact that it comes from me will make it land differently, and I have always lived by the line I'll take the cash, you can have the credit — so if you simply live well, I have everything I wanted. Much of what follows is drawn from books and teachers I admired; sometimes I'll name them and sometimes I won't. It hardly matters — a thing can have been said a hundred times before, but because I say it, and mean it, and say it in my own accent, the message becomes genuinely mine. — Before Takeoff (front matter)