1. The true is inimitable, the false untransformable.

Robert Bresson (1907-99) French director. “1950-58: The Real,”  Notes on the Cinematographer (1975)

2. The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) U.S. consultant and author. Referring to his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936). Newsweek (1955)

3. Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea has to be original only in its adaption to the problem you’re working on.

Thomas Edison (1847-1931) U.S. inventor. Quoted in A Kick in the Seat of the Pants (Roger von Oech; 1986)

4. Anyone who attempts anything original in the world must expect a bit of ridicule.

Alberto Juantorena (b.1950) Cuban athlete and businessman. Quoted in Quick Frozen Foods (March 1960)

5. Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met.

Fran Lebowitz (b.1950) U.S. writer and columnist. Social Studies (1981)

6. New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.

John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher and political thinker. Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), Dedicatory epistle.