Plagiarism Quotes

Some brains are barren grounds, that will not bring seed or fruit forth, unless they are well manured with the old wit which is raked from other writers and speakers. ~ Margaret Cavendish

The low-grade plagiarism of popularity will never lead you to true contentment. ~ T.D. Jakes

Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism. ~ George A. Moore

The ethics of plagiarism have turned into the narcissism of small differences: because journalism cannot own up to its heavily derivative nature, it must enforce originality on the level of the sentence. ~ Malcolm Gladwell

I don't mind being plagiarized as long as my work is used for the benefit of others. ~ Abhijit Naskar

If you steal from one author it's plagiarism; if you steal from many it's research. ~ Wilson Mizner

STAY AN ORIGINAL WORK OF ART

In this short lifetime,
Why not be --
True to your own voice,
Your own story,
Your own truths,
Your own style,
Beat and drum --
Instead of reflect the words,
Songs and march of another?
Why not use your soul's own
Unique language,
Instead of constantly try to toot something
Not true, suitable or intended
For your own instrument,
Painting,
Song,
Or story?

Why create an image you cannot produce?
And if you can create a brilliant mask,
How long will you really be able to hide your true soul
Behind it
Until its colors and plastic
Begin to fade and melt with
Time?

Do not speak about truth when there is no truth in you.
Do not speak about being yourself when you are trying hard to be someone else.
Do not keep crying about your pain when you you have no shame creating pain in others.
Do not step on truth, or someone else's truth, or someone who fights for truth --
And think there will be no repercussions;
For there is more danger in silence,
And for every action there will always be a reaction
Of opposite or equal measure.

Treasure integrity,
Treasure your own story and truths.
How will people remember you when you want to be an imitation?
How will people remember your voice when you want to sound like another?
Be so different that everybody will re ~ Suzy Kassem

If you want to do something in your life,

share everything but never your ideas. ~ Vikash Shrivastava

Using a big word like 'plagiarism' ... always causes some damage. It will always do lasting damage, like accusations of racism. ~ Michel Houellebecq

You create identity, you're not given identity per se. What became more and more interesting to me wasn't the I, it was text because it's text that create identity. That's how I got interested in plagiarism. ~ Kathy Acker

Who to patch up his fame, or fill his purse, Still pilfers wretched plans, and makes them worse; Like gypsies, lest the stolen brat be known, Defacing first, then claiming for his own. ~ Charles Churchill

Plagiarism, is like a fatal plague which has engulfed our generation and culminated impersonate clones. sad but true.. a caricature has replaced Mona Lisa. ~ Himmilicious

There is only one thing which is generally safe from plagiarism
self-denial. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Originality, I fear, is too often only undetected and frequently unconscious plagiarism. ~ William Ralph Inge

Scientific fraud, plagiarism, and ghost writing are increasingly being reported in the news media, creating the impression that misconduct has become a widespread and omnipresent evil in scientific research. ~ Heinrich Rohrer

Plagiarism has been around far longer than the Internet. In fact, I had a poem published in 'Seventeen' magazine when I was 15 years old. About a year later I was informed that there was a girl who used that same poem to win a statewide poetry competition in Alabama. It took months for people to put together that this had happened. ~ Megan McCafferty

There was no crime in unconscious plagiarism; that I committed it everyday, that he committed it everyday, that every man alive on earth who writes or speaks commits it every day and not merely once or twice but every time he open his mouth ... there is nothing of our own in it except some slight change born of our temperament, character, environment, teachings and associations ~ Mark Twain

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

When you have wit of your own, it's a pleasure to credit other people for theirs. ~ Criss Jami

I read Wolfe's new book _ The Story of a Novel_ and as usual he stole the whole damn thing from me. I am going to write and say will you please stop writing books you bastard. ~ Jean Stafford

Vassals of an outdated ideology unrelated to the real world, they can, when questioned on this issue, only mumble neoliberal mantras that have delivered the world economic stagnation, rising inequality and global environmental crisis ~ Richard Flanagan

I often plagiarize from myself. I like to think of this as ecological journalism: I recycle. ~ Molly Ivins

A wise man will always allow a fool to rob him of ideas without yelling "Thief."
If he is wise he has not been impoverished.
Nor has the fool been enriched.
The thief flatters us by stealing.
We flatter him by complaining. ~ Ben Hecht

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. ~ Wendell Phillips

When I listen to Radio 1 and hear five different tracks in a row using old disco samples, well that's plagiarism, that's taking other people's music. ~ Jay Kay

The quotation-business is booming. No subdivision of the culture seems too narrow to have a quotation book of its own ... It would be an understatement to say that these books lean on one another. To compare them is to stroll through a glorious jungle of incestuous mutual plagiarism. ~ James Gleick

The (post) structuralist temper requires too great a depersonalization of the writing/speaking subject. Writing becomes plagiarism; speaking becomes quoting. Meanwhile, we do write, we do speak. ~ Ihab Hassan

Mr. Fitzgerald, I believe that is how he spells his name, seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home. ~ Zelda Fitzgerald

Forgive plagiarism, copy one person's thoughts, you are a plagiarist.... if it is by more than one, it's a council! (may have "borrowed this, too!") ~ Robert Armstrong

What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before. ~ Mark Twain

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. ~ Steven Wright

From: Anastasia Steele
Subject: Moaning
Date: May 31 2011 19:39 EST
To: Christian Grey
Gotta go.
Laters, baby.
...
From: Christian Grey
Subject: Plagiarism
Date: May 31 2011 16:41
To: Anastasia Steele
You stole my line.
And left me hanging.
Enjoy your dinner.
Christian Grey
CEO, Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc. ~ E.L. James

The shrimp's protein and ours are not exactly the same, but they're so
similar that if you turned up in court and tried to convince a judge that your
version was not a badly concealed plagiarism, you'd be very unlikely to win.
In fact, you'd be a laughing stock, for rhodopsin is not restricted to vent shrimp
and humans but is omnipresent throughout the animal kingdom.... Trying to persuade a judge that your rhodopsin is not plagiarised
would be like trying to clajm that your television set is fundamentally different
from everyone else's, just because it's bigger or has a flat screen. ~ Nick Lane

I wasn't political enough to write articles about myself or go to cocktail parties, meaning that not only has my art been pirated and my intellectual property rights stolen, but my work has been misrepresented. ~ Michael Heizer

All wisdom is plagiarism; only stupidiy is original. ~ Hugh Kerr

Plagiarism is not only wrong, it's spelled funny, okay. ~ Pepe The King Prawn

Plagiarism is always the biggest thing in Hollywood. ~ Clint Eastwood

The relation between life and literature - a final antimony - is one of mutual plagiarism. ~ Mary McCarthy

A little of this, a little of that - a little of me, a little of you - put it together what do you have? postmodern soup ... ~ John Geddes

Some people try to paint in my style. Some simply sell pirated copies of my work. Some claim to be my publisher or agent or even my exclusive representative, when they are not. ~ LeRoy Neiman

Mountain Center"
Maureen McLane


The cords are strong
a loose weave strung
between white pines.

Now I will offer
a transcript of today's news
and you'll know it

as conceptual poetry
as this hammock
is a plagiarism

of all other hammocks
in all poems & the world.
My dream of originality

a copy
of an idea
no one had.

Like everyone
"I have wasted my life."

Magpie day
mockingbird night
cuckoo mind ~ Maureen McLane

I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky.
In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics:
Plagiarize!
Plagiarize!
Let no one else's work evade your eyes!
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes!
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.
[Lobachevsky] ~ Tom Lehrer

Do something others will have the desire to plagiarize but will find difficult to do. ~ Robert Genn

Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author's phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea. ~ Guy Debord

All work and no plagiarism makes for dull sermons! ~ Henry Ward Beecher

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. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Plagiarism is necessary, progress implies it ~ Guy Debord

Art is either plagiarism or revolution. ~ Paul Gaugin

Imitation isn't the sincerest form of flattery - it's plagiarism. ~ Red Skelton

Art is either revolution or plagiarism ~ Paul Gauguin

Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Goethe said there would be little left of him if he were to discard what he owed to others. ~ Charlotte Saunders Cushman

If I did what has already been done, I would be a plagiarist and would consider myself unworthy; so I do something different and people call me a scoundrel. I'd rather be a scoundrel than a plagiarist! ~ Paul Gauguin

All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorms room. Or maybe they'd realized I got my Essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book. ~ Rick Riordan

It looked like a loaf of bread crossed at an angle with a fish. "Loaves and fishes? Like the miracle Jesus performed?" Ryan tried to understand. "Symbols of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture," Emily responded, "and Neptune, god of the sea - to signify that the most august emperor was the source of all sustenance, of life itself." "Couldn't the church fathers have come up with one thing that was truly original?" Emily laughed. "One thing I've learned: there's nothing original under the sun god. Really, someone should set the record straight about the early church fathers' plagiarism. ~ Kenneth Atchity

One can steal everything from an artist except their talent. ~ Marty Rubin

if you copy someone's work, is considered plagiarizing, but if you put together so many peoples work, is called research ~ "Beta" Metani' Marashi

In the arts they call it plagiarism, in business they call it competition. ~ Andrew Mason

I get a lot of big ideas, and occasionally I actually come up with one myself. ~ Bauvard

I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes. ~ Jimi Hendrix

The only "ism" Hollywood believes in is plagiarism. ~ Dorothy Parker

Steal from one man, it's plagiarism. Steal from a thousand men, it's research. ~ Quentin Reynolds

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. ~ Charles Kuralt

Graphic designers should be literate in graphic design history.
Being able to design well is not always enough. Knowing the roots
of design is necessary to avoid reinvention, no less inadvertent plagiarism. ~ Steven Heller

I am now to offer some thoughts upon that sameness or familiarity which we frequently find between passages in different authors without quotation. This may be one of three things either what is called Plagiarism, or Imitation, or Coincidence. ~ James Boswell

As for piracy, I love to be pirated. It is the greatest compliment an author can have. The wholesale piracy of Democracy was the single real triumph of my life. Anyone may steal what he likes from me. ~ Henry Adams

The only real mystery in the stories of political plagiarism is its durability in an age of Turnitin and other scanning software that can protect an author from his own mistakes, intentional or otherwise. ~ Evan Osnos

People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy after ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Plagiarism, n. A literary coincidence compounded of a discreditable priority and an honorable subsequence. ~ Ambrose Bierce

All religions worthy of the name are now making great efforts to purify their doctrines and return to their original standpoint, - all except Christianity! You surely know that the nineteenth century Christianity is not the religion taught by Christ. Christ's religion has been changed and corrupted. But Christian clergymen are well aware that if they were to attempt to purify Christianity and bring it back to the religion of Christ, the result would be to reform it out of existence. Christianity stands to-day completely explained. Every step in its development is laid bare and shown to be due to purely natural causes, and it is easy to see how much Christianity adopted from other and older religions. ~ Virchand Gandhi

Is the painter a plagiarist because he sets his palette to nature? ~ Benjamin West

All the poets are indebted more or less to those who have gone before them; even Homer's originality has been questioned, and Virgil owes almost as much to Theocritus, in his Pastorals, as to Homer, in his Heroics; and if our own countryman, Milton, has soared above both Homer and Virgil, it is because he has stolen some feathers from their wings. ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Writers who copy or plagiarise others are dreaming in another man's sleep. ~ Fennel Hudson

I think almost every newspaper in the United States has lost circulation due to the Internet. I also think the Internet will lead to a lot of plagiarism in journalism. ~ Will McDonough

If you copy my dreams, you automatically will copy my challenges too. My success will give you a crown. My challenges will make you frown. ~ Israelmore Ayivor

The key to writing is something to be stolen. How else does one open the door to a house of thieves? ~ Anthony Marais

In the Alco Ward a dispute had broken out over plagiarism. Incidentally, when I arrived there for the first time I did not have the slightest notion that I was crossing the threshold of a creative writing program, that I was entering a community of people of the pen, of writers who were incessantly creating their alcoholic autobiographies, recording their innermost feeling in cheap sixty-page notebooks that were called emotional journals, laboriously assembling their drunkard's confessions. ~ Jerzy Pilch

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

Writing your own story around the same ideas is not plagiarism; at worst, it's being unoriginal. ~ Charles Stross

All originality and no plagiarism makes for dull preaching. ~ Charles Spurgeon

Certainly the plagiarism, and dealing with the fallout of it, was the most difficult thing I've ever faced since I started writing. ~ Nora Roberts

The bees pillage the flowers here and there but they make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme or marjolaine: so the pieces borrowed from others he will transform and mix up into a work all his own. ~ Michel De Montaigne

Existing is plagiarism. ~ Emile M. Cioran

The writer Wilson Mizner said if you copy from one author, it's plagiarism, but if you copy from many, it's research. I ~ Austin Kleon

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

The kernel, the soul - let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances - is plagiarism. For substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources, and daily used by the garnerer with a pride and satisfaction born of the superstition that he originated them; whereas there is not a rag of originality about them anywhere except the little discoloration they get from his mental and moral calibre and his temperament, and which is revealed in characteristics of phrasing. ~ Mark Twain

People can copy anything; your mode of dressing, the way you talk, walk, dance, sing, cry, but they will find it very hard to imitate the way you donate money. ~ Michael Bassey Johnson

In a way, fraud in business is no different from infidelity in marriage or plagiarism in scholarly work. Even people committed to high moral standards succumb. ~ Miroslav Volf

Stealing from one author is plagiarism; from many authors, research. ~ Walter Moers

One semester, I was busted for reverse plagiarism, which basically meant I was too lazy to research a paper for my psychology class so cited false references to support my own theories on deviant behavior. ~ Jennifer Coburn

If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism, but if you copy from many, it's research. ~ Wilson Mizner

Footnoting references, signalling quotations, and so on were no part of a 13th-century scholar's duty. He could recycle his own and his predecessor's work without a qualm. He knew nothing of copyright and plagiarism, which are 17th-century inventions. ~ Fergus Kerr

After some time passed in studying - and even imitating - the works of others, I would recommend the student to endeavour to be original, and to remember that originality should not be undiscovered plagiarism. ~ Henry Peach Robinson

A plagiarist should be made to copy the author a hundred times. ~ Karl Kraus

I have myself always been terrified of plagiarism - of being accused of it, that is. Every writer is a thief, though some of us are more clever than others at disguising our robberies. The reason writers are such slow readers is that we are ceaselessly searching for things we can steal and then pass off as our own: a natty bit of syntax, a seamless transition, a metaphor that jumps to its target like an arrow shot from an aluminum crossbow. ~ Joseph Epstein

I am willing to be a literary thief if it has so been ordained; I am even willing to be caught robbing the ancient dead alongside of Hopkinson Smith, for he is my friend and a good fellow, and I think would be as honest as any one if he could do it without occasioning remark; but I am not willing to antedate his crimes by fifteen hundred years. I must ask you to knock off part of that. ~ Mark Twain

Where do architects and designers get their ideas? The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism? ~ Nancy Banks-Smith

You don't want to become guilty of plagiarism by letting someone else's words get inadvertently mixed in with your own. If you do feel the need to paste in a block of research while you're writing, be sure to highlight the copied text in a different color so you can go back and remove or rewrite it entirely later. ~ Gayle Lynds

Anything that is not autobiography is plagiarism. ~ Pedro Almodovar