In the early part of his career, he did not allow photographs of himself to be published, but such a simplistic opposition between the public and the private could not survive his philosophical scrutiny, and soon his image became familiar.
Vargas told me that he allowed more of himself to seep into the Zuckerberg profile than he had in anything he had written before.
He also talks openly of allowing himself to be influenced by the work of designers and artists whom he admires.
If Professor Groat played such a small role in the preparation of the report, one might wonder about the propriety of allowing himself to be listed as the principal investigator.
Released in 1971, hopelessly marked as a former political prisoner, Kang takes the unorthodox step of allowing himself to be adopted by a childless peasant, thereby assuming a new identity and starting afresh.
The Google tax story took a surreal turn with Rupert Murdoch stepping in to accuse David Cameron of allowing himself to be too easily influenced by the tech company's whizz kids.
"I needed him to focus on his training instead of allowing himself to be paralyzed by fear".
But instead of allowing himself to give up or see these challenges as failures, he used them as learning experiences for his next attempt.
Entering his 14th season with the Eagles, Reid spoke of not allowing himself to think about the pressure of his job.
But crucially, Labour's Ed Balls, following the logic of Summers and others, is allowing himself the luxury of funding some key investments through borrowing.
