Plagiarism

They lard their lean books with the fat of others' works.

— Plagiarism

We can say nothing but what hath been said,Our storydressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly best.

— Plagiarism

I wrote the verse for the spiritual number "Clap Yo' Hands" and a lyric called "That Certain Something You've Got," but Ira changed the lyrics and called it "Oh, Kay, You're O.K. with Me." It was the title song of the show and the least distinguished. Ira made me a present of the credit for it. It was the opposite of plagiarism; we call it donorism.

— Plagiarism

Report says that you, Fidentinus, recite my compositions in public as if they were your own. If you allow them to be called mine, I will send you my verses gratis; if you wish them to be called yours, pray buy them, that they may be mine no longer.

— Plagiarism

Next o'er his books his eyes began to roll,And suck'd all o'er like an industrious bug.

— Plagiarism

With him most authors steal their works, or buy;Garth did not write his own Dispensary.

— Plagiarism

Steal!—to be sure they may; and egad, serve your best thoughts as gypsies do stolen children, disfigure them to make 'em pass for their own.

— Plagiarism

Call them if you please bookmakers, not authors; range them rather among second-hand dealers than plagiarists.

— Plagiarism

If any man be shocked that I admit my thefts, imitations, and plagiarisms so openly, it is because that man has not yet learned that only mediocre writers, also-rans, poseurs, cockatoos, and popinjays idolize creativity. Inquire, if you doubt my word, of Virgil and Milton, the greatest poet in the Latin and English tongue respectively.

— Plagiarism

Who borrow much, then fairly make it known,And damn it with improvements of their own.

— Plagiarism

Who, to patch up his fame—or fill his purse—Defacing first, then claiming for his own.

— Plagiarism

Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of other treasure belonging to the dead and hidden underground; for they dispose of both with great secrecy, defacing the shape and image of the one as much as of the other.

— Plagiarism

The Plagiarism of orators is the art, or an ingenious and easy mode, which some adroitly employ to change, or disguise, all sorts of speeches of their own composition, or that of other authors, for their pleasure, or their utility; in such a manner that it becomes impossible even for the author himself to recognise his own work, his own genius, and his own style, so skilfully shall the whole be disguised.

— Plagiarism

When Shakespeare is charged with debts to his authors, Landor replies, "Yet he was more original than his originals. He breathed upon dead bodies and brought them into life."

— Plagiarism

It has come to be practically a sort of rule in literature, that a man, having once shown himself capable of original writing, is entitled thenceforth to steal from the writings of others at discretion.

— Plagiarism

He that readeth good writers and pickes out their flowres for his own nose, is lyke a foole.

— Plagiarism

When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre, 'E went an' took—the same as me.

— Plagiarism

My books need no one to accuse or judge you: the page which is yours stands up against you and says, "You are a thief."

— Plagiarism

Why, simpleton, do you mix your verses with mine? What have you to do, foolish man, with writings that convict you of theft? Why do you attempt to associate foxes with lions, and make owls pass for eagles? Though you had one of Ladas's legs, you would not be able, blockhead, to run with the other leg of wood.

— Plagiarism

For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted plagiary.

— Plagiarism

Amongst so many borrowed things, am glad if I can steal one, disguising and altering it for some new service.

— Plagiarism

He liked those literary cooksBy plucking bon-mots from their places.

— Plagiarism

Take the whole range of imaginative literature, and we are all wholesale borrowers. In every matter that relates to invention, to use, or beauty or form, we are borrowers.

— Plagiarism

The seed ye sow, another reaps;The arms ye forge another bears.

— Plagiarism