Books Quote by James E. Irby

Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

— Voltaire

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

— Voltaire

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We…

— Anonymous

“I want to debunk the myth that originality requires extreme risk taking and persuade you that originals are actually far more ordinary than we…

— Adam M. Grant

“Originality is a myth perpetuated by the naive, the romantic, and the unscrupulous.”

— Tom Robbins

Originality is something that is easily exaggerated, especially by authors contemplating their own work.

— John Kenneth Galbraith

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed from one another. The instruction we find in books is like fire. We…

— Voltaire

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

— W. H. Auden

“Literature is too full of 'acknowledgments' and squabbles about originality...”

— George Bernard Shaw

“Most novels, if they are successful at all, are original in the sense that they report the existence of an area of society, a…

— Doris Lessing

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.

— François-René de Chateaubriand

“Every writer is the amanuensis to their characters”

— Lucy Coats