“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”

— Steven Wright

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Steven Wright 178

American actor and author 1955

Related quotes

“When you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research.”

Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American writer

Quoted in Alva Johnston's The Legendary Mizners (1953, Farrar Straus and Young, New York, chapter 4, p 66) and Bartlett's, 1992, p. 631.
Also quoted as If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism. If you copy from two, it's research by Stuart B. McIver in Dreamers, Schemers and Scalawags.
Epigrams

“Stealing from one author is plagiarism; from many authors, research.”

Walter Moers book The City of Dreaming Books

Source: The City of Dreaming Books

“I've taken stuff from people, too. You know though, if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But if you steal from everyone, that's research.”

Tony Bennett (1926) American singer

[Dino, Scatena, The new cool cat on the block, http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/15/1081998284897.html?from=storyrhs, Sydney Morning Herald, 2004-04-16, 2006-11-10]
Take-off on an aphorism attributed to Wilson Mizner, in response to Michael Bublé's acknowledgment of having "stolen stuff" from Bennett.

“It's not a crime to be gullible. But it is a crime to steal from a gullible person.”

Bob Nygaard private detective specializing in psychic fraud

ABC7 investigation: Self-proclaimed psychics bilk thousands from vulnerable clients http://abc7.com/news/self-proclaimed-psychics-bilk-thousands-from-clients/1954924, ABC News (4 May 2017)

“I have committed many sins in my life. But stealing money from the government, from the people, is not one of them.”

Ferdinand Marcos (1917–1989) former President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986

in an interview on ABC
1965

“There are a lot of things a person with two hands couldn't steal," Eddis said.
"So?"
"If it's impossible to steal them with two hands, it's no more impossible to steal them with one. Steal peace, Eugenides. Steal me some time.”

Megan Whalen Turner The Queen of Attolia

Source: The Queen of Attolia

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty — power is ever stealing from the many to the few….”

Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator and lawyer

Speech in Boston, Massachusetts (28 January 1852), Speeches Before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society (1853), p. 13. The memorable and oft-quoted phrase, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," was not in quotation marks in the printed edition of this speech. The Home Book of Quotations, ed. Burton Stevenson, 9th ed., p. 1106 (1964), notes that "It has been said that Mr. Phillips was quoting Thomas Jefferson, but in a letter dated 14 April, 1879, Mr. Phillips wrote: '"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty" has been attributed to Jefferson, but no one has yet found it in his works or elsewhere.' It has also been attributed to Patrick Henry."
1850s
Context: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty — power is ever stealing from the many to the few…. The hand entrusted with power becomes … the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continual oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot: only by unintermitted Agitation can a people be kept sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.