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ORIGINALITY --- ORWELL (GEORGE) --- OUTCASTS OUTDOORS --- OVER-ESTIMATING OURSELVES OVERREACTION --- OYSTERS

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ORIGINALITY

see: "GENIUS"
see: "INDIVIDUALITY"
see: "INNOVATION"
see: "INVENTION"
see: "STYLE"
see: "DISCOVERY" for other related links
see: "SUCCESS" for other related links


Nature made him and then broke the mold.
--Ludovico Ariosto (1474—1533)
Italian poet.
_Orlando Furioso_, canto X, st. 84 [1532]

The truth is that the propensity of man to imitate
what is before him is one of the strongest parts
of his nature.
--Walter Bagehot (1826—1877)
British economist and essayist.
_Physics and Politics_ [1872]

About the most originality that any writer can hope
to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.
--Josh Billings [Henry Wheeler Shaw] (1818—1885)
American humorist.
Attributed in "Books of the Month" [1959].

The man is most original who can adapt
from the greatest number of sources.
--Thomas Carlyle (1795—1881)
Scottish historian and political philosopher.
Attributed in "Gardeners' Chronicle of America" [February 1921].

The original writer is not he who refrains from
imitating others, but he who can be imitated
by none.
--Fran็ois-Ren้ de Chateaubriand (1768—1848)
French writer and diplomat.
_Le G้nie du Christianisme_, pt. 2, bk. I, ch. 3 [1802]

I would rather be the author of one original
thought than conqueror of a hundred battles.
Yet moral excellence is so much superior to
intellectual, that I ought to esteem one virtue
more valuable than a hundred original
thoughts.
--William Benton Clulow (1802—1882)
English clergyman.
_Aphorisms and Reflections_ [1843]

Damn those who have said what we wanted to say!
--attributed to Aelius Donatus (late 4th cent. A.D.)
Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric.

One couldn't carry on life comfortably without
a little blindness to the fact that everything has
been said better than we can put it ourselves.
--George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] (1819—1880)
English novelist.
_Daniel Deronda_, bk. II, ch. XVI [1876]

By necessity, by proclivity and by delight, we
all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate
the thoughts of others as it is to invent.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_Letters and Social Aims_ [1876] "Quotation and Originality"

We prefer to believe that the absence of inverted
commas guarantees the originality of a thought,
whereas it may be merely that the utterer has
forgotten its source.
--Clifton Fadiman (1904—1999)
American critic and author.
_Any Number Can Play_ [1957]

Should we all confess our sins to one another
we would all laugh at one another for our lack
of originality.
--Kahlil Gibran (1883—1931)
Lebanese poet.
_Sand and Foam_ [1926]

Everything has been said before, but since
nobody listens we have to keep going back
and beginning all over again.
--Andre Gide (1869—1951)
French novelist and critic who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947.
_Le traite du Narcisse_ [1891]

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All intelligent thoughts have already been
thought; what is necessary is only to try to
think of them again.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
_Proverbs in Prose_ [1819]


The most original modern authors are not so because they
advance what is new, but simply because they know how
to put what they have to say, as if it had never been said
before.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
Quoted in Henry Attwell _A Book of Thoughts_ [1865].

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When people are free to do as they please,
they usually imitate each other.
--Eric Hoffer (1902—1983)
American longshoreman, philosopher, and author who
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1982.
_Passionate State of Mind_ [1955]

It is hard to utter common notions
in an individual way.
--Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65—8 BC)
Roman poet.
"Ars Poetica," l.128

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.
--William Ralph Inge (1860—1954)
English writer and Dean of St. Paul's [1911—1934].
Quoted in Connie Robertson
_The Wordsworth Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 181 [1998].

Originality is the art of concealing your source.
--Franklin P. Jones
Unfortunately, the identity of Franklin P. Jones is
not clear. Some quotation sites on the Internet
refer to him as an American businessman who
lived from 1887—1929, while others refer to
him as an American humorist who lived from
1853—1935.
In "Quote Magazine."

It is certain that I cannot always distinguish my
own thoughts from those I read, because what
I read become the very substance and texture
of my mind.
--Helen Keller (1880—1968)
American author and educator who was blind and deaf.
_The Story of My Life_ [1903]

Today an original thinker is the person
who is the first to steal an idea.
--Karl Kraus (1874—1936)
Austrian satirist.
Quoted in Thomas Szasz _Karl Kraus and the Soul-Doctors_ [1976].

Original thought is like original sin: both happened
before you were born to people you could not have
possibly met.
--Fran Lebowitz (b. 1946)
American humorist.
_Social Studies_ [1981] "People"

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about
originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply
try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how
often it has been told before) you will, nine times out
of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.
--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_Mere Christianity_ [1952]

Books serve to show a man that those original
thoughts of his aren't very new after all.
--Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865)
American Republican statesman, President [1861—1865].
Quoted in _Pennsylvania School Journal_, vol. 46, no. 7 [January 1898].

Console yourself, dear man and brother, whatever you may
be sure of, be sure at least of this, that you are dreadfully
like other people. Human nature has a much greater genius
for sameness than for originality, or the world would be at
a sad pass shortly.
--James Russell Lowell (1819—1891)
American poet, critic, essayist, and diplomat.
"On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners" in the
essay collection _My Study Windows_ [1871].

Originality is the fine art of remembering what
you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
--Laurence J. Peter (1919—1990)
Canadian teacher and author.
In Donald Bolander "The New Webster's Dictionary
of Quotations and Famous Phrases" [1987].

I always have a quotation for everything
— it saves original thinking.
--Dorothy L. Sayers (1893—1957)
English writer of detective fiction.
_Have His Carcase_, ch. 4 [1932]

Anyone who tells you he has discovered
something new is a fool, or a liar or both.
--Mack Sennett (1880—1960)
Canadian-born innovator of slapstick comedy in film.
In James Agee, _Agee on Film_ vol. 1 [1967].

A man of great common sense and good
taste — meaning thereby a man without
originality or moral courage.
--George Bernard Shaw (1856—1950)
Irish dramatist and critic.
_Caesar and Cleopatra_, "Notes: Julius Caesar" [1906], as quoted in
Robert Andrews _The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations_ [1993].

Originality is not seen in single words or even
sentences. Originality is the sum total of a
man's thinking or his writing.
--Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904—1991)
Polish-American novelist who won the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature.
"New York Times Magazine" [12 March 1978]

In fact, nothing is said that has not been said before.
--Terence [Publius Terentius Afer] (c. 190—159 BC)
Roman comic dramatist.
_Eunuchus_, line 41 (Prologue)

What a good thing Adam had — when he said a
good thing he knew nobody had said it before.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Notebook_ [2 July 1867]

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.
The most original writers borrowed from one
another. The instruction we find in books is
like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors,
kindle it at home, communicate it to others
and it becomes the property of all.
--Voltaire (Fran็ois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.
Quoted in Hialmer D. Gould & Edward L. Hessenmueller
_Best Thoughts of Best Thinkers_, p. 576 [1904].

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archetype (noun)
An original model or pattern from which others are made
or copied; prototype.
Synonyms: prototype, model, pattern, exemplar, original
Similar: mold, paragon, paradigm, precursor, forerunner,
ancestor, predecessor
Related: image, original, lead
Derived: archetypal, adj.; archetypally, adv.; archetypic, adj.

sui generis [soo-eye-JEN-ur-us]; adjective:
Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of
its own; unique.




ORWELL (GEORGE)

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see: "AUTHORS"
see: "PEOPLE" for other related links


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What puzzles me is the marked preference of the
public for _1984_ [over _Animal Farm_]. For it
seems to me (apart from its magnificent, and
fortunately detachable, Appendix on "Newspeak")
to be merely a flawed, interesting book; but the
_Farm_ is a work of genius which may well outlive
the particular and (let us hope) temporary conditions
that provoked it.

To begin with, it is very much the shorter of the
two. This in itself would not, of course, show it
to be the better. I am the last person to think so.
Callimachus, to be sure, thought a great book a
great evil, but then I think Callimachus a great
prig.

My appetite is hearty and when I sit down to
read I like a square meal. But in this instance the
shorter book seems to do all that the longer one
does; and more. The longer book does not justify
its greater length. There is dead wood in it. ...

The great sentence "All animals are equal but some
are more equal than others" bites deeper than the
whole of _1984_. ...

Paradoxically, when Orwell turns all his characters
into animals he makes them more fully human ...
Here, despite the animal disguise, we feel we are
in a real world. ...

Finally, _Animal Farm_ is formally almost perfect;
light, strong, balanced. There is not a sentence
that does not contribute to the whole. The myth
says all the author wants it to say and (equally
important) it doesn't say anything else. Here is
an objet d'art as durably satisfying as a Horatian
ode or a Chippendale chair.

--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.
_On Stories and Other Essays on Literature_, [1955] "George Orwell"




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OUTCASTS

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see: "SOLITUDE"


[Of AIDS:]
Sometimes I have a terrible feeling that
I am dying not from the virus, but from
being untouchable.
--Amanda Heggs (1957—1992)
English writer.
In "Guardian" [12 June 1989].

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Ostracism was one of the ways in which Athenian democracy was
expressed, and involved banishing for ten years any prominent citizen
who had become unpopular. On a day appointed for the vote, the
Agora was enclosed by a fence and all those citizens who wanted to
take part were admitted by one of ten entrances. They handed to an
official a potsherd with the name of a man they wished to see banished
written on it. When all the potsherds had been collected, they were
counted and, provided there were over six thousand of them, the man
whose name appeared most was ostracised. He had to leave the city
within ten days; but, after the ten years of his exile were over, he
could return without either disgrace or curtailment of his rights as
a citizen.

--Christopher Hibbert _Cities and Civilizations_ [2003 ed.],
ch. 2 "Athens in the Days of Pericles 480-404 BC"

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anathema (noun) [๊-'nๆ-th๊-m๊]
Formal ecclesiastical expulsion, excommunication; any strong
denunciation leading to rejection or ostracism; the person
(outcast) or object so reviled and denounced.

eschew (verb) [e-'shu]
Shun, avoid, shy away from.




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OUTDOORS

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see: "NATURE" for related links


Our poets ... spent too much of their lives inside rooms and classrooms
when they should have been trudging up mountains, slogging through
swamps, rowing down rivers. The indoor life is the next best thing to
premature burial.
--Edward Abbey (1927—1989)
American author.
_A Voice Crying in the Wilderness_ (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) [1989],
ch. 5 "On Writing and Writers, Books and Art"

Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business.
--Dave Barry (b. 1947)
American humorist.
Quoted in Geoff Tibballs _The Mammoth Book of
Zingers, Quips, and One-Liners_, p. 91 [2004].

Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her
out into the yard for the night, she can still survive.
--W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield] (1880—1946)
American vaudeville star and film actor.
Quoted in Carlotta Monti (his mistress) _W.C. Fields & Me_ [1971].

The outdoors is what you must pass through
to get from your apartment to a taxicab.
--Fran Lebowitz (b. 1946)
American humorist.
Quoted in "Mademoiselle" [1976].

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alfresco [al-FRES-koh], adverb:
1. In the open air; outdoors.
2. Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor.




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OVER-ESTIMATING OURSELVES

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see: "HUBRIS"
see: "SNOBS"


The average person thinks he isn't.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
(Retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_.)

Humans are overconfident creatures. Ninety-four percent of
college professors believe they are above average teachers,
and 90 percent of drivers believe they are above average
behind the wheel. Researchers Paul J.H. Schoemaker and
J. Edward Russo gave computer executives quizzes on their
industry. Afterward, the executives estimated that they had
gotten 5 percent of the answers wrong. In fact, they had
gotten 80 percent of the answers wrong.
--David Brooks (b. 1961)
Canadian-born American journalist.
"New Level of Overconfidence"
Reprinted in _Las Vegas Sun_ [28 October 2009].

& note:

93%: Percentage of managers who consider themselves
to be excellent or good bosses, according to a survey of
workers by the Hudson Institute.

67%: Pecentage of workers who rate their bosses favorably.

--in _Las Vegas Business Press_ [2 October 2006]

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A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
--Stephen Crane (1871—1900)
American author and journalist.
_War Is Kind and Other Lines_ [1899]

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the
glowing opinion we have of ourselves with the
appalling things that other people think about
us.
--Quentin Crisp [Denis Pratt] (1908—1999)
English writer.
_How to Become a Virgin_, ch. 2 [1981]

Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally distributed,
for everybody thinks he is so well supplied with it, that even those
most difficult to please in all other matters never desire more of it
than they already possess.
--Ren้ Descartes (1596—1650)
French philosopher and mathematician.
_Discours de la m้thode_ [1637] (Discourse on Method)

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal
virtues, and this is mine: I am one of the few honest people
that I have ever known.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896—1940)
American novelist.
_The Great Gatsby_, ch. 3 [1925]

A Man must have a good deal of Vanity who believes,
and a good deal of Boldness who affirms, that all the
Doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects, are false.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
Letter to his Father & Mother [13 April 1738].

I now know all the people worth knowing in America,
and I find no intellect comparable to my own.
--[Sarah] Margaret Fuller (1810—1850)
American critic, teacher, and woman of letters.
Quoted in "Littell's Living Age" [May 1852].

Man believes himself always greater than
he is, and is esteemed less than he is worth.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749—1832)
German poet, novelist, and playwright.
Attributed in Maturin M. Ballou _Treasury of Thought_, p. 87 [10th ed. 1884].

Of those that spin out life in trifles, and die without a
memorial, many flatter themselves with high opinions
of their own importance, and imagine that they are
every day adding some improvement to human life.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_The Idler_ (essays in the newspaper "The Universal Chronicle"
from 1758—1760) [Issue of 5 August 1758]

He who imagines he can do without the world deceives
himself much; but he who fancies the world cannot do
without him is still more mistaken.
--Fran็ois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.
_Maxims_, XCIII [1665]

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than
the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that
comes after it.
--George Orwell [Eric Blair] (1903—1950)
English novelist.
In a review of Herbert Read's _A Coat of Many Colours: Occasional
Essays_ [1946], quoted in _George Orwell: In Front of Your Nose,
1946-1950: The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George
Orwell_ ed. Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus [4 vols., 1968].




OVER-REACTION

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see: "TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY"
see: "TRIFLES"


If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting
to treat everything as if it were a nail.
--Abraham Maslow (1908—1970)
American psychologist.
_The Psychology of Science_ [1966]

^

From the Washington Post.

A man sawed off his hand at a Fairfax County butcher shop last night after
a dispute over his order, county police said. Police said the man was taken
to a hospital in serious condition after the 7 p.m. incident in a market in the
7000 block of Spring Garden Drive in the Franconia area. Police said that
they understood that the man had wanted goat and was given chicken.

--_New Yorker_ (magazine) [24 December 2007]

^

^

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809—1892)
British poet, poet laureate [1850-92].

Tennyson was entertaining a Russian nobleman
on his house on the Isle of Wight. One morning
the Russian set off on a shooting expedition,
returning later that day with the proud news
that he had shot two peasants. Tennyson
politely corrected his guest's pronunciation:
'You mean two pheasants,' he said. 'No,'
replied the Russian,' 'two peasants. They
were insolent, so I shot them.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andr้ Bernard [2000 ed.]

^



OYSTERS

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see: "FOOD & DRINK" for related links


[Walter Hollander (Jackie Gleason) speaking:]
I will not eat oysters. You have to eat them
alive. I want my food dead. Not sick, not
wounded — dead.
--Woody Allen [Allen Stewart Konigsberg] (b. 1935)
American actor, screenwriter, and director.
"Don't Drink the Water" [1969 film]

William Makepeace Thackeray claimed that eating his
first American oyster was like swallowing a baby.
--Michael and Ariane Batterberry
_On the Town in New York_ [1999]

It is unseasonable and unwholesome in all
months that have not an R in their names
to eat an oyster.
--William Butler (1535—1618)
_Dyet's Dry Dinner_ [1599]

When Salvador Dali was offered his first
raw oyster, he shuddered and remarked,
"I'd as soon eat a piece of Mae West!"
--In Clifton Fadiman and Andr้ Bernard (eds.)
_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ [rev. ed. 2000].

He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious
Conversation_ [1738] "Second Conversation"

Listen to me and I'm sure you'll agree
That the bravest man in eternity
Was neither a soldier nor champion of law
But the first who devoured an oyster, raw.
--"Troob", in a Brant Parker/Johnny Hart
_Wizard of Id_cartoon


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