“For such kind of borrowing as this, if it be not bettered by the borrower, among good authors is accounted Plagiarè.”
Eikonoklastes (1649), 23
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John Milton190
English epic poet 1608–1674Related quotes
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher
22 September 1830.
Table Talk (1821–1834)
Context: A poet ought not to pick nature's pocket: let him borrow, and so borrow as to repay by the very act of borrowing. Examine nature accurately, but write from recollection; and trust more to your imagination than to your memory.
Doris Lessing (1919–2013) British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer and short story writer
I, who ne'er<br>Went for myself a begging, go a borrowing,<br>And that for others. Borrowing's much the same<br>As begging; just as lending upon usury<br>Is much the same as thieving. <br class="br">Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise (1779), Act II, scene II http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/natws10.txt <br class="br">Misattributed
“I try not to borrow, first you borrow then you beg.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist
“It's kind of like borrowing the same ten bucks from somebody over and over again.”
Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor
Interviewed on Fresh Air, 2002-05-21 http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=5-21-2002. <br class="br">Context: I collaborate with my wife on the songs, and every aspect of it, really— composing, and arranging, and recording, all that business. We have a rhythm and a way of working it. It's kind of like borrowing the same ten bucks from somebody over and over again. But when you live together, it makes it a lot easier, the pay back.
Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)
Source: Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
“Stale is stale and borrowed is borrowed, no matter how original your models may have been.”
Robert Silverberg (1935) American speculative fiction writer and editor
Introduction to New Dimensions 1, edited by Robert Silverberg
“Ever from one who comes to-morrow
Men wait their good and truth to borrow.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Merlin's Song II http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=l&p=c&a=p&ID=20584&c=323 <br class="br">1860s, May-Day and Other Pieces (1867)
“Days that need borrow
No part of their good morrow
From a fore-spent night of sorrow.”
Richard Crashaw (1612–1649) British writer
Wishes for the Supposed Mistress