In a way this is my legacy
In a way this is my legacy. It is my self-portrait and has a combination of self-criticism and self-approval. The self-criticism is always led me to higher levels of self-approval.
— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · Hebrew Ethical Wills by Israel Abrahams
In the book
I'm setting them down anyway. This is my self-portrait, and an honest one holds both the self-criticism and the self-approval — in my life it was always the criticism that drove me toward the approval. A few things about the flight you're beginning. Know where you are going, because if you don't, as the cat told Alice, it doesn't much matter which way you walk. — Before Takeoff (front matter)
I set them down anyway. A self-portrait worth anything has to hold both the self-criticism and the self-approval, and in my life the criticism is what kept pushing me toward the approval. Step back far enough and you see that none of us flies a first flight. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)