Quote: If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many, it's research (antedating 1938)

[Garson O'Toole]

If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism; if you steal from many,
it's research

This quotation is attributed to Wilson Mizner and Bob Oliver.

The Yale Book of Quotations has a 1944 cite for Wilson Mizner and a
1941 March 17 cite for Bob Oliver. The earliest cite in the ADS
archive that I could locate is the 1941 March 17 cite:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0404B&L=ADS-L&P=R3656

Here is a version of the quotation in 1938:

1938 September 29, Santa Fe New Mexican, "It's An Art", Page 4, Column
1, Santa Fe, New Mexico. (NewspaperArchive)

                  IT'S AN ART
     (The Commentator Magazine)
On the title page of most of the books on art should be printed: "If
you steal from one person it's plagiarism; if you steal from three
persons it's research."

Jonathan Lighter recently wrote a post with the subject line: "yet
more GB caveats"

> So *never* trust a periodical page ref. or volume number from GB or any
> similar source unless you see it photographically reproduced. Which almost
> never happens in a "snippet view."

That is why I attempt to verify "snippet view" citations on paper.
Sometimes it is a slow difficult process, and sometimes I simply
suspend research in an area when I reach an impasse. Ideas on this
topic are welcome.

Maybe someone on the list can help follow through on this quotation.
Verifying the quote on paper in the cite below would be great. Finding
out the author of the article would be nice.

Google Books contains two instances the relevant issue of "The
Commentator". Here is some information and two links to the quotation
within the volumes:

Title: Scribner's commentator, Volume 4
Author: Lowell Thomas
Publisher: Payson Publishing, Inc., 1938
http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_8vAAAAMAAJ&q=plagiarism#search_anchor

Title: Scribner's commentator, Volume 4
Author: Lowell Thomas
Publisher: Payson Publishing, Inc., 1938
http://books.google.com/books?id=zzMdAQAAIAAJ&q=plagiarism#search_anchor

The North Carolina State catalog says volume 4 contains issues from
1938 and 1939.
"Stacks         AP2 .S39 v.4(1938:Aug.-1939:Jan.)"


Google Books has another hit in a periodical called "Panorama". This
cite appears to be difficult to verify. I have only found one library
with the periodical: University of Michigan. That is the library that
donated the item to be scanned.

Title: Panorama: a review of views and news, Volume 3
Publisher: Community Publishers, 1938
If you steal from one person, it is plagiarism; if you steal from
three persons, it is research. — Joseph Cummings Chase.
http://books.google.com/books?id=e3hKAAAAMAAJ&

The text above looks like it might be an attribution, but the data is
not reliable. Maybe Joseph Cummings Chase is the author of the article
in Scribner's Commentator?

Thanks for any help or ideas,
Garson

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