Quotations about Originality
All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. ~ John Stuart Mill
What is originality? Undetected plagiarism. ~ William Ralph Inge
Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist. ~ Georges Seurat
Every man is an original and solitary character. None can either understand or feel the book of his own life like himself. ~ Richard Cecil
Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else and failing. ~ Raymond Radiguet
Anoriginal artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original. ~ Jean Cocteau
It takes a courageous fool to say things that have not been said and to do things that have not been done. ~ Criss Jami
Originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself. ~ James Stephens
Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it. ~ Laurence J. Peter
No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. ~ John Morley
The most original of authors are not so because they advance what is new, but more because they know how to say something, as if it had never been said before. ~ Goethe
There is just one life for each of us: our own. ~ Euripides
Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes. ~ Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Originality usually amounts only to plagiarizing something unfamiliar. ~ Katharine Fullerton Gerould
Originality is independence, not rebellion; it is sincerity, not antagonism. ~ George Henry Lewes
When there is an original sound in the world, it makes a hundred echoes. ~ John A. Shedd
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ e.e. cummings
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own. ~ Goethe
Utter originality is, of course, out of the question. ~ Ezra Pound
But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~ Herman Melville
Cinema reflects culture and there is no harm in adapting technology, but not at the cost of losing your originality. ~ Jackie Chan
Give up on trying to be original. Every song has been sung, every picture has been painted, and every story has been told. The best one can do is sing, draw, or tell it again well. ~ Evan Mandery
You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. ~ John Mason
What is the point of being on this Earth if you are going to be like everyone else? ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger
Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true! ~ Robert Browning
The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men. ~ Blaise Pascal
Originality is not seen in single words or even in sentences. Originality is the sum total of a man’s thinking or his writing. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
The prerequisite of originality is the art of forgetting, at the proper moment, what we know. ~ Arthur Koestler
It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is. ~ Desiderius Erasmus
Originality is the essence of true scholarship. Creativity is the soul of the true scholar. ~ Nnamdi Azikiwe
About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. ~ Josh Billings
A man is original when he speaks the truth that has always been known to all good men. ~ Patrick Kavanagh
Originality implies being bold enough to go beyond accepted norms. ~ Anthony Storr
The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality. ~ Conan O’Brien
One couldn’t carry on life comfortably without a little blindness to the fact that everything has been said better than we can put it ourselves. ~ George Eliot
One’s real life is often the life that one does not lead. ~ Oscar Wilde
Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness. ~ Allen Ginsberg
The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. ~ Jim Morrison
The man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. ~ Mark Twain
A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes
True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision. ~ Edith Wharton
We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin. ~ André Berthiaume
It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for something you are not. ~ Andre Gide
A poor original is better than a good imitation. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
If you would create something, you must be something. ~ Goethe
The originality of a subject is in its treatment. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
Let us not forget that the greatest composers were also the greatest thieves. They stole from everyone and everywhere. ~ Pablo Casals
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ~ Steve Jobs
Just keep thinking about the good side of ADD – the creativity and the originality it can stimulate. ~ David Neeleman
“Be yourself” is about the worst advice you can give some people. ~ Tom Masson
No man knows himself as an original. ~ Washington Allston
A man of great common sense and good taste – meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Knowing how to paint and to use one’s colors rightly has not any connection with originality. This originality consists in properly expressing your own impressions. ~ Thomas Couture
What the world calls originality is only an unaccustomed method of tickling it. ~ George Bernard Shaw
Originality exists in every individual because each of us differs from the others. We are all primary numbers divisible only by ourselves. ~ Jean Guitton
As a rule, I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted. ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery
He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. ~ Raymond Hull
The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards. ~ Arthur Koestler
Originality is the art of concealing your source. ~ Franklin P. Jones
Originality is what distinguishes art from craft. It is the yardstick of artistic greatness. ~ Horst W. Janson
The secret of all effective originality in advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships. ~ Leo Burnett
Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility. ~ Charles Baudelaire
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. ~ W. H. Auden
Great men are more distinguished by range and extent than by originality. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. ~ Oscar Wilde
All thoughtful men are solitary and original in themselves. ~ James Russell Lowell
Mistakes are the only universal form of originality. ~ Mason Cooley
What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before. ~ Mark Twain
Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of. ~ John Stuart Mill
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~ Herman Melville
Originality is… a by-product of sincerity. ~ Marianne Moore
God has given you one face, and you make yourself another. ~ William Shakespeare
Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. ~ Samuel Johnson
Originality is the best form of rebellion. ~ Mike Sasso
The principle mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the opening of new frontiers. ~ Arthur Koestler
Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another. ~ Voltaire
Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applause which he cannot keep. ~ Samuel Johnson
The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity. ~ Thomas Carlyle
I’ll develop my own image. I’m an original man. A one and only. I just need some help. ~ Sam Shepard
That which is original creates a new origin. That which is original, by definition, must stay off the previously worn paths. It must wander; it must err. ~ Blake Charlton
If they haven’t heard it before it’s original. ~ Gene Fowler
If you cannot be a poet, be the poem. ~ David Carradine
The world in general doesn’t know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger. ~ W. Somerset Maugham
If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. ~ Goethe
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. ~ Dr. Seuss
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~ Judy Garland
Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist. ~ Lukas Foss
Great success in examinations does naturally not as a rule go with originality of thought. ~ Edward Carpenter
Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are. ~ Julius Charles Hare
Shakespeare’s Originality ~Book preview
This compact, engaging book puts Shakespeare’s originality in historical context and looks at how he worked with his sources: the plays, poems, chronicles and romances on which his own plays are based.
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Published by The Library of Proverbial Wisdom on Sept.5, 2018