He may even knowingly say what others have said…
He may even knowingly say what others have said, but because he says it, and wants to say it, and may say it with accentuation on his own, his message is lgenuinely his.
— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · Hebrew Ethical Wills by Israel Abrahams
In the book
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. Where my advice touches your relationship with God, I have kept it light, only because I never considered myself the expert there; my experience is in the other arenas, and that is where I can actually be of use to you. — Before Takeoff (front matter)