#imitation

The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity. The inventor did it, because it was natural to him, and so in him it has a charm. In the imitator, something else is natural, and he bereaves himself of his own beauty, to come short of another man's. ↗

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

#individuality #invention #beauty

But once an original book has been written-and no more than one or two appear in a century-men of letters imitate it, in other words, they copy it so that hundreds of thousands of books are published on exactly the same theme, with slightly different titles and modified phraseology. This should be able to be achieved by apes, who are essentially imitators, provided, of course, that they are able to make use of language. ↗

— Pierre Boulle

#books #imitation #language #theme #writing

I should like to be remembered as the man who raised a voice against... placing limitations on the freedom of the individual. ↗

— Dennis Chavez

#freedom #i #individual #like #limitations

Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again. ↗

— James Cook

#attention #just #limitations #never #once

When we see someone or something as imperfect, it is a reflection of our limitations, not theirs. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#happiness #imperfect #life #limitations #perception

I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing. ↗

— Mae West

#imitation #just #lady #model #real

People mistake their limitations for high standards. ↗

— Jean Toomer

#high standards #limitations #mistake #people #standards

Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life? ↗

— Alfred de Vigny

#imitation #life #only #reproduction #use

All art is but imitation of nature. ↗

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

#imitation #nature

On every side, and at every hour of the day, we came up against the relentless limitations of pioneer life. ↗

— Anna Howard Shaw

#came #day #every #hour #life