L’écrivain original n’est pas celui qui n’imite personne, mais celui que personne ne peut imiter.
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1979) 3rd edition
Variant translations:
The original style is not the style which never borrows of any one, but that which no other person is capable of reproducing.
As translated by Charles I. White (1856) Part 2, Book 1, Chapter 3
An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1980) 15th edition.
Le génie du Christianisme (1802)
“We must learn how to imitate Cicero from Cicero himself. Let us imitate him as he imitated others.”
in The Erasmus Reader (1990), p. 130.
Ciceronianus (1528)
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Desiderius Erasmus 36
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian 1466–1536Related quotes
“Virgil imitated Homer, but imitated him as a rival, not as a disciple.”
Introduction, p. 27
Commentary, P. Vergili Maronis Opera, Volume II (1863)
The Divinity College Address (1838)
Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), VII. On Air and Manner
Context: Few men, nevertheless, can have unison in many matters without being a copy of each other, if each follow his natural turn of mind. But in general a person will not wholly follow it. He loves to imitate. We often imitate the same person without perceiving it, and we neglect our own good qualities for the good qualities of others, which generally do not suit us.
“The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and imitate Him.”
Quote reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 364
Homage to the square' (1964), Oral history interview with Josef Albers' (1968)
Discourse no. 6, delivered on December 10, 1774; vol. 1, p. 150.
Discourses on Art
Quoted in "The American Mercury" - Page 157 - edited by Henry Louis Mencken - 1942.
Induction and Analogy in Mathematics (1954)
Context: The efficient use of plausible reasoning is a practical skill and it is learned... by imitation and practice.... what I can offer are only examples for imitation and opportunity for practice.
Letter to Sisters at Saint Mary's, 1848.