We can say nothing but what hath been said . . . Our poets steal
from Homer . . read more

We can say nothing but what hath been said . . . Our poets steal
from Homer . . . . Our storydressers do as much; he that comes
last is commonly best.

Why, simpleton, do you mix your verses with mine? What have you
to do, foolish man, with writings that read more

Why, simpleton, do you mix your verses with mine? What have you
to do, foolish man, with writings that convict you of theft? Why
do you attempt to associate foxes with lions, and make owls pass
for eagles? Though you had one of Ladas's legs, you would not be
able, blockhead, to run with the other leg of wood.

The Plagiarism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy
mode, which some adroitly employ to change, read more

The Plagiarism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy
mode, which some adroitly employ to change, or disguise, all
sorts of speeches or their own composition, or that of other
authors, for their pleasure, or their utility; in such a manner
that it becomes impossible even for the author himself to
recognize his own work, his own genius, and his own style, so
skillfully shall the whole be disguised.
- Isaac D'Israeli,

Take the whole range of imaginative literature, and we are all
wholesale borrowers. In every matter that relates to read more

Take the whole range of imaginative literature, and we are all
wholesale borrowers. In every matter that relates to invention,
to use, or beauty or form, we are borrowers.

Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of
other treasure belonging to the dead and read more

Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of
other treasure belonging to the dead and hidden underground; for
they dispose of both with great secrecy, defacing the shape and
image of the one as much as of the other.

When Shakespeare is charges with debts to his authors, Landor
replies, "Yet he was more original than his originals. read more

When Shakespeare is charges with debts to his authors, Landor
replies, "Yet he was more original than his originals. He
breathed upon dead bodies and brought them into life."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson,

The bees pillage the flowers here and there but they make honey
of them which is all their own; read more

The bees pillage the flowers here and there but they make honey
of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme or
marjolaine: so the pieces borrowed from others he will transform
and mix up into a work all his own.
[Fr., Les abeilles pillotent deca dela les fleurs; mais elles en
font aprez le miel, qui est tout leur; ce n'est plus thym, ny
marjolaine: ainsi les pieces empruntees d'aultruy, il les
transformera et confondra pour en faire un ouvrage tout sien.]

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole;
How read more

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,
In pleasing memory of all he stole;
How here he sipp'd, how there he plunder'd snug,
And suck'd all o'er like an industrious bug.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal ideas from many is research.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal ideas from many is research.