Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met.

Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met.

All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think read more

All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first read more

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.

All profoundly original work looks ugly at first.

All profoundly original work looks ugly at first.

What a good thing Adam had--when he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before.

What a good thing Adam had--when he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before.

Should we all confess our sins to one another we would all laugh at one another for our lack of read more

Should we all confess our sins to one another we would all laugh at one another for our lack of originality