Originality Quotes - Page 23

• That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.

  Paul Valery

  Psychics, Empowerment, Ironic

  "Tel Quel". Book by Paul Valery, 1943.

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• Creativity, which is the expression of our originality, helps us stay mindful that what we bring to the world is completely original and cannot be compared.

  Brené Brown

  Creativity, Expression, World

  Brené Brown (2010). “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are”, p.109, Simon and Schuster

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• Wherein lies a poet's claim to originality? That he invents his incidents? No. That he was present when his episodes had their birth? No. That he was first to repeat them? No. None of these things has any value. He confers on them their only originality that has any value, and that is his way of telling them." Mark Twain "...every literature, in its main lines, reflects the chief characteristics of the people for whom, and about whom, it is written.

  Edith Wharton

  Lying, People, Firsts

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• The Christian life is stamped by 'moral spontaneous originality,' consequently the disciple is open to the same charge that Jesus Christ was, viz., that of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent to God, and the Christian must be consistent to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to hard and fast creeds. Men pour themselves into creeds, and God has to blast them out of their prejudices before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.

  Oswald Chambers

  Christian, Jesus, Son

  Oswald Chambers (2011). “My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition”, p.378, Discovery House

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• The complaint, therefore, that all topicks are preoccupied, is nothing more than the murmur of ignorance or idleness, by which some discourage others, and some themselves; the mutability of mankind will always furnish writers with new images, and the luxuriance of fancy may always embellish them with new decorations.

  Samuel Johnson

  Ignorance, Writing, May

  Samuel Johnson (2003). “Selected Essays”, p.525, Penguin UK

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• As not every instance of similitude can be considered as a proof of imitation, so not every imitation ought to be stigmatised as plagiarism. The adoption of a noble sentiment, or the insertion of a borrowed ornament, may sometimes display so much judgment as will almost compensate for invention; and an inferior genius may, without any imputation of servility, pursue the paths of the ancients, provided he declines to tread in their footsteps.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Adoption, Ornaments

  Samuel Johnson (1782). “The Beauties of Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous”, p.117

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• The authour who imitates his predecessors only by furnishing himself with thoughts and elegances out of the same general magazine of literature, can with little more propriety be reproached as a plagiary, than the architect can be censured as a mean copier of Angelo or Wren, because he digs his marble out of the same quarry, squares his stones by the same art, and unites them in columns of the same orders.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Mean, Writing

  Samuel Johnson (1828). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.278

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• From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.

  Samuel Johnson

  Spring, Path, Thee

  Samuel Johnson (1752). “The Rambler”, p.12

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• On parochial school I was told I had an overabundance of original sin.

  Susan Sarandon

  School, Sin, Overabundance

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• In Japan we have the phrase, "Shoshin," which means "beginner's mind." Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Mean, Japan, Empty Mind

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• Charles Chaplin makes a million dollars a year out of a funny, shuffling walk and a pair of baggy trousers, because he does "something different." Take the hint and "individualize" yourself with some distinctive idea.

  Napoleon Hill

  Years, Ideas, Doe

  Napoleon Hill (2008). “The Law of Success: The Master Wealth-Builder's Complete and Original Lesson Plan forAchieving Your Dreams”, p.260, Penguin

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• No writer can be fully convicted of imitation except there is a concurrence of more resemblance than can be imagined to have happened by chance; as where the same ideas are conjoined without any natural series or necessary coherence, or where not only the thought but the words are copied.

  Samuel Johnson

  Writing, Ideas, Coherence

  Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With Murphy's Essay”, p.106

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• Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.

  Pablo Picasso

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Creativity

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• Postmodernity is said to be a culture of fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable simulacra, and promiscuous superficiality, in which the traditionally valued qualities of depth, coherence, meaning, originality, and authenticity are evacuated or dissolved amid the random swirl of empty signals.

  Jean Baudrillard

  Quality, Depth, Culture

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• To this day, no one has come up with a set of rules for originality. There aren't any.

  Les Paul

  Inspirational, Individual Differences, Being Different

  FaceBook post by Les Paul from Nov 30, 2015

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• The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone-that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born.

  Nikola Tesla

  Loneliness, Being Alone, Creativity

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• These short stories establish Sontag's originality . . . her unique vision, her success with experiments in the form . . . Sontag makes a wonderful stew of the past, the life caught in memory and imagination, serves it all up lavishly laced with silences, and provides us with a gourmand's series of short courses.

  Doris Grumbach

  Memories, Unique, Past

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• Cerebration is the enemy of originality in art.

  Martin Ritt

  Art, Artist, Enemy

  Martin Ritt, Gabriel Miller (2003). “Martin Ritt: Interviews”, p.205, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• Universities are renowned for their tolerance of unusual characters, especially if they show originality and dedication to their research. I have often made the comment that not only are universities a 'cathedral' for worship of knowledge, they are also 'sheltered workshops' for the socially challenged.

  Tony Attwood

  Character, Dedication, Tolerance

  Tony Attwood (2006). “The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome”, p.301, Jessica Kingsley Publishers

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• To exact of every man who writes that he should say something new, would be to reduce authors to a small number; to oblige the most fertile genius to say only what is new, would be to contract his volumes to a few pages. Yet, surely, there ought to be some bounds to repetition; libraries ought no more to be heaped for ever with the same thoughts differently expressed, than with the same books differently decorated.

  Samuel Johnson

  Book, Writing, Men

  Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”

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• A strange lot this, to be dropped down in a world of barbarians - men who see clearly enough the barbarity of all ages except their own.

  Ernest Howard Crosby

  Men, Progress, Age

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• In proportion as our own mind is enlarged we discover a greater number of men of originality. Commonplace people see no difference between one man and another.

  Blaise Pascal

  Appreciation, Men, Differences

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• One possible sign of low self-esteem is suppressing parts of yourself so you can fill someone else's expectations of what you should be. You try to fill someone else's (or your own) prescription of perfection, instead of being yourself and embracing your originality.

  Robin Meade

  Being Yourself, Self Esteem, Expectations

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• All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it's one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him... One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Essence, Intriguing

  "Prejudices: Third Series (Le Contrat Social)". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1922.

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• To do nothing is in everyone's power.

  Samuel Johnson

  Power, Progress

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