" We often speak of a man who’s done this successfully as a “self-made man.” The appellation is usually spoken with a sense of admiration, but really it should be said in the same tones we might use of the dearly departed, or of a man who recently lost an arm—with sadness and regret. What the term really means is “an orphaned man who figured how to master some part of life on his own. "

― John Eldredge , Fathered by God: Learning What Your Dad Could Never Teach You