“I know these writers, they say “borrow” when they mean “steal.””

— Nick Drake (poet)

ibid
The Rahotep series, Book 2: Tutankhamun
Context: Be careful, Rahotep, I know these writers, they say “borrow” when they mean “steal.” You will soon read your words coming back to you on some privately circulated scroll of new verse.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I know these writers, they say “borrow” when they mean “steal.”" by Nick Drake (poet)?

Nick Drake (poet)41

British writer 1961

Related quotes

“Bad writers have influences. Good writers steal.”

S.M. Stirling (1953) Canadian-American author, primarily of speculative fiction

Dragon Page Cover to Cover interview, Episode 372A (8 September 2009)

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

Michel De Montaigne book Essays

Book III, Ch. 12. Of Physiognomy
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Borrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending with interest is not much better than stealing.”

Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer

I, who ne'er Went for myself a begging, go a borrowing, And that for others. Borrowing's much the same As begging; just as lending upon usury Is much the same as thieving. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise (1779), Act II, scene II http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/natws10.txt Misattributed

“But if you say: "How am I to know what he means, when I see nothing but the signs he gives?" then I say: "How is he to know what he means, when he has nothing but the signs either?"”

Ludwig Wittgenstein book Philosophical Investigations

§ 504
Philosophical Investigations (1953)

“…There’s still this notion that you are somehow morally superior if you don’t know anything about the background of the writers you read, and I maintain that writers have every right to not talk their backgrounds, that’s fine, but when people do and it’s important to their work, to not know doesn’t mean you’re morally superior, it means you are indifferent…”

Nalo Hopkinson (1960) Jamaican Canadian writer

On the author having the right to reveal anything personal that’s significant to them in “Interview: Nalo Hopkinson” http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/interview-nalo-hopkinson/ in Lightspeed (June 2013)

“I am a politician which means I am a liar and a crook. When I am not kissing babies I am stealing their lollypops.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

“You're not from New York, are you? You can't be from New York. Well, when I broke in, I didn't know many people by name so I would just say, "Say, hey," and the writers picked that up. The writers here in New York can make anything happen, so they made that happen.”

Willie Mays (1931) Baseball player

As quoted in "Sports of the Times: The Most Natural Ballplayer" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVUcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465%2C2456085&dq=who%27s-best-ever-aside-yourself-next-roberto by Dave Anderson, in The New York Times (January 24, 1979)

“An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t
know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder
why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or
steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

“Suddenly, I don't know what to say. It happens often to me. I know what I want to say, I think about whether it is what I mean, but when the moment comes to speak, I can't say it.
- Nana Kleinfrankenheim, Vivre Sa Vie.”

Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic

“I know when it’s the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it’s the best I can do.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Paris Review Interview (1990)
Context: I know when it’s the best I can do. It may not be the best there is. Another writer may do it much better. But I know when it’s the best I can do. I know that one of the great arts that the writer develops is the art of saying, No. No, I’m finished. Bye. And leaving it alone. I will not write it into the ground. I will not write the life out of it. I won’t do that.

“I know these writers, they say “borrow” when they mean “steal.””

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Nick Drake (poet)41

Related quotes

Related topics