Quote: What is originality? It is merely undetected plagiarism. (Herbert Paul, 1896)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Garson O'Toole wrote:
>>And, after all, what is originality? It is merely undetected plagiarism.

Joel S. Berson" wrote:
>  From more than one source, of course. "Stealing ideas from one
> person is plagiarism;  stealing ideas from many is originality."*
> * Better known as research.

Thanks for your response, Joel. There is a relevant entry on the QI website.

If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many,
It’s Research
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/20/plagiarism/

The earliest strong match was in 1932 in a journal called "Special Libraries":

[Begin excerpt]
I am reminded of the man who was asked what plagiarism was. He said:
"It is plagiarism when you take something out of a book and use it as
your own. If you take it out of several books then it is research."
[End excerpt]


Another thematically related entry:

Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/06/artists-steal/

Garson

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