#originality

"Every man has a specific skill, whether it is discovered or not, that more readily and naturally comes to him than it would to another, and his own should be sought and polished. He excels best in his niche - originality loses its authenticity in one's efforts to obtain originality."

"An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them."

"In order to share one's true brilliance one initially has to risk looking like a fool: genius is like a wheel that spins so fast, it at first glance appears to be sitting still."

"Animals do it largely for the REPRODUCTION, but so-called Social Animals (People) do it regularly thinking that it will give them SATISFACTION."

"All novels are sequels; influence is bliss."

"You can't be a rebel without the scars that come with it. Truth is, some days scars are just as ugly as they are beautiful."

"Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known."

"Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos."

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."

"Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all."

"I refuse to believe that Hendrix had the last possessed hand,that Joplin had the last drunken throat,that Morrison had the last enlightened mind."

"I'd rather be interesting, original, & unique then follow the pack. Revel in who you truly are & be liberated!"

"Anymore, no one's mind is their own."

"Once conform, once do what other people do because they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul. She becomes all outer show and inward emptiness; dull, callous, and indifferent."

"Create with the heart; build with the mind."

"One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light."

"Get off the treadmill of consumption, replication, and mediocrity. Begin lifting the weights of creativity, originality, and success."

"When most of the greatest individuals in history were misunderstood and you've spent so much of your own adult life misunderstood, you can't help but believe that the majority of people know very little worth knowing."

"An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate."

"Because even among contrarians, I’m a contrarian. But all of this is just words of bronze, third place rhetoric. What do I really mean when I say we want to shock society into awareness? Do we mean we want more originality and individuality? Less TV, more reading, writing, actual thinking? Less sheep, more shepherd pie? Yes, yes, and a little more pie, please. Oh, and some more sweet tea, too"