Friday, January 27, 2012

Thoughts on Originality



"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.”
― Abraham Lincoln

"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Only those with no memory insist on their originality.”
― Coco Chanel

“We are all feeding from each other, all the time, every day.”
― Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius



“The small are always dependent on the great; they are "small" precisely because they think they are independent. The great thinker is one who can hear what is greatest in the work of other "greats" and who can transform it in an original manner.”
― Martin Heidegger


What do you think about the statements above? I am not for plagiarism but for a very long time have contemplated the idea of originality. If I put three lines on a bead ,that someone has also done, is it the same or different because I might have used ivory as a base and they have used red? It's an interesting proposition. I still haven't pre-ordered Kleon's book I want, but I'm going to. In the meantime I am adamant about coveting your ideas...ask me questions and I will answer. How do you feel about this topic?

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