Ned Rorem Quotes

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

I take stuff because I'm inspired by it.

Art is either revolution or plagiarism

A big talent steals, a small talent borrows.

When you snatch little pieces of other people's lives and try to palm them off as your own, that's more disgusting than anything. Robin Williams is a huge thief. Denis Leary is a huge thief. His whole stand-up career is based on Bill Hicks, a brilliant guy who died years ago.

You'd have to be completely crazy not to be influenced by and take from other artists. It's completely impossible not to.

Everyone steals from something or someone.

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

You find a lot of ideas from my shows in adverts now. I find it a compliment.

Any creator owes a debt to past creation.

It's intimidating any time to have a piece of art that someone else created, and that person says, 'Let's see what you created based on what I created.'

All art is theft.

There's a lot of thievery involved in writing. You're breaking into other people's spaces and other people's stories.

Someone very smart once said to me, "Steal, don't borrow." So if there's anything good in anything anyone else does, it's fair game. I think that everything I've ever done at some point is part of someone else's legacy.

Minor artists borrow, great ones steal.

Delsarte tells me that Mozart stole outrageously from Galuppi, in the same way, I suppose, that Molière stole from anybody anywhere, if he found something work taking. I said that what was Mozart had not been stolen from Galuppi, or from anyone else for that matter.

Everything all of us do is stolen from somebody.

The way that I'm working now is basically the way I've been working since I was a kid: Find the greatest artist in whatever you do, and rip them off with respect. I think there's a big difference between ripping off with respect and ripping off in disrespect.

Authors from whom others steal should not complain, but rejoice. Where there is no game there are no poachers.

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

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

When it comes to other people's writing, my older influences are more powerful than more recent ones, partially because I'm now more worried that I'll suddenly accidentally steal something from another writer.

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

I think all comics borrow from each other. Only a few have an original voice, and I wasn't one of them. In the end, I couldn't figure out who to steal from, so I stopped doing it.

Blake is damned good to steal from.