Gifts versus weaknesses

An excerpt from Saul Bellow's book Humboldt's Gift (a roman à clé):

Some people embrace their gifts with gratitude. Others have no use for them and can think only of overcoming their weaknesses. Only their defects interest and challenge them. Thus those who hate people may seek them out. Misanthropes often practice psychiatry. The shy become performers. Natural thieves look for positions of trust. The frightened make bold moves.

Bellow seldom leaves any sermon without giving it a touch of humour, even if a self-deprecating one. So, here's how he finishes the above lines:

Or take myself, a lover of beauty who insisted on living in Chicago.