William James Quotes

Some of us have great original ideas and some of us depend on adaptations.

In trying to make something new, half the undertaking lies in discovering whether it can be done. Once it has been established that it can, duplication is inevitable.

We call ourselves creators and we just copy.

Nobody really invents anything that hasn't been done before.

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

Most of us don't invent ideas. We take the best ideas from someone else.

You can't make experimental work by copying past work.

There's no harm being a copycat. If someone else is doing a good job, copy. It's free.

The best imitation in the world is not half as good as a poor original.

I think we always move from imitation to assimilation to innovation, but I can't name you 20 people outside those we've already recognized who ever got to point three: innovation.

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.

The only way you can get good, unless you're a genius, is to copy. That's the best thing. Just steal.

As humans, we've always innovated our way out of problems, whether it was the first torch to light a dark cave or the steam engine that sparked a revolution.

I'm just curious how it'd look like if someone tried to remake my work. But I really believe that it's hard to remake of any of my work.

Imitation, if noble and general, insures the best hope of originality.

You've got to be able to copy things faithfully before you can deviate.

A good way to have good ideas is by being unoriginal.

It's hard work to find your own voice and not to copycat anything.

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

Imitation is the sincerest form of television.

I don't think anybody came into the movie business to be unoriginal and plagiarising and not having an original idea in their brain.

Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.

To appropriate an invention, be it artistic or technical, you have to have at least a part of your spirit embracing it so radically that you somehow change.

You have to be ahead of your game, and in industry that is a different condition than in art. If you make things in an intelligent way and then they are replicated, that's a beautiful thing. If you make things in a bad way and they are replicated, the wrong is multiplied.

I realized that I could try to sound like Waylon Jennings, or I could try to be like Waylon Jennings... but it's impossible to do both.