Alexandra Petri Quotes

About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

All writers are magpies, right? We're always stealing bits from different places and then weaving them into our little nest.

Good poets borrow; great poets steal.

Somebody told me long ago that in acting, it's okay to steal, just steal from the best.

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

It's so funny, I'm always stealing from Moliere, and nobody ever notices. I steal from him willy-nilly.

Once you get into the world of dystopia, it's hard to avoid plagiarism, because other people have had such powerful visions.

I write my own quotes. Except this one. I obviously stole this from somebody really clever.

There's no shame in stealing - any actor who says he doesn't is lying. You steal from everything.

The big artist keeps an eye on nature and steals her tools.

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

Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.

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.

Blake is damned good to steal from.

I could tell you which writer's rhythms I am imitating. It's not exactly plagiarism, it's falling in love with good language and trying to imitate it.

I have an unconscious burglar living in my mind: If I read something, it's mine. I can read Middle English stories, Geoffrey Chaucer or Sir Thomas Malory, but once I start moving in the direction of contemporary fantasy, my mind begins to take over.

I steal things from people, characteristics, and I just stock them in my head like a library to use for characters in the future.

I'm a plagiarist - I always look back at other movies, and I steal, but I steal well, and I reinvent.

All writers steal. You might as well steal from the best.

Everybody steals my lines.

Inspiration is one thing. Stealing is another.

I'm a big fan of Nora Ephron, who believed everything is copy, and I agree.

Sometimes, I think filmmakers grab too much from real life.

Although there's no one I really pattern my game after, I am a firm believer in stealing stuff from other people.