Quotes about Plagiarism

“Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author's phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea.”

“Genius Borrows nobly.”

“Nothing is new except arrangement.”

“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.”

“Nothing is said which has not been said before.”

“Immature artists imitate. Mature artists steal.”

“Perish those who said our good things before we did.”

“The immature artist imitates. The mature artist steals.”

“They lard their lean books with the fat of others work.”

“Plagiarists are always suspicious of being stolen from.”

“I don't think anybody steals anything; all of us borrow.”

“Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research.”

“Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism.”

“There is much difference between imitating a man and counterfeiting him.”

“Stealing things is a glorious occupation, particularly in the art world.”

“When a thing has been said and said well, have no scruple. Take it and copy it.”

“So much of what I am I got from you. I had no idea how much of it was secondhand.”

“If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.”

“What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before.”

“He invades authors like a monarch; and what would be theft in other poets is only victory in him.”

“About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.”

“The human plagiarism which is most difficult to avoid, for individuals... is the plagiarism of ourselves.”

“They castrate the books of other men in order that with the fat of their works they may lard their own lean volumes.”

“Most writers steal a good thing when they can, and when 'Tis safely got 'Tis worth the winning. The worst of 't is we now and then detect em, they ever dream that we suspect em.”

“And for the citation of so many authors, 'tis the easiest thing in nature. Find out one of these books with an alphabetical index, and without any farther ceremony, remove it verbatim into your own... there are fools enough to be thus drawn into an opinion of the work; at least, such a flourishing train of attendants will give your book a fashionable air, and recommend it for sale.”

“Plagiarists at least have the quality of preservation.”