Quotes n Notes: Originality

By on March 31, 2008 in Quotes n Notes with 2 Comments

Quotenote_4
"Originality is nothing but judicious imitation." – Voltaire

"Originality is undetected plagiarism." – Dean Inge

Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan) threw a question out on Twitter last night about the ratio of originality in blog posts.  My response was something along the lines of the two quotes on this post.

"Originality = Plagiarism w/o getting caught." – @mikesansone

Thinking about what I wrote, it seems a bit cynical in belief, maybe even underhanded.

I do believe that we can take ideas we’ve seen or heard and build on them. SCAMPER them. It’s one way I coach bloggers to keep their blog writing fresh.

One of the beauties of the conversphere (H/T to Tony Clark for that term), is the mantra for transparency and authenticity. Give credit where credit is due. And use Creative Commons.

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  • Ryan Karpeles

    Abraham Lincoln had another good quote on this topic:
    “Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”
    I certainly agree with this, but the key to originality isn’t just the thought itself. It’s the context, the timing, the application, the audience, and a host of other factors.
    So while our ideas might be old, what we do with them can be utterly brilliant and new. Just because someone’s already thought it – don’t let that stop you from making the most of it.

  • http://www.brickmarketing.com Brick Marketing

    Gotta love the thought-provoking questions asked on Twitter! Great article! Especially love the second quote!

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