[Ads-l] Quote: Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery That Mediocrity Can Pay To Greatness

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I was asked to explore the origin of the quotation in the subject line
which has been attributed to the famous Irish wit Oscar Wilde. I found
no substantive evidence that Oscar Wilde wrote or spoke this precise
statement. Yet, there is testimony that Wilde employed thematically
related remarks.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/01/19/imitation-flattery/

In 1882 Wilde attended a performance of the comic opera "Patience" by
Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert. The main character Reginald
Bunthorne was widely considered to be a satirical depiction of Wilde.
"The Boston Daily Globe" of Massachustts reported Wilde's reaction to
the colorful character:

[ref] 1882 January 6, The Boston Daily Globe, Oscar Wilde Witnesses
"Patience", Quote Page 1, Column 3, Boston, Massachusetts.
(Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
When Bunthorne walked on the stage, with his affected stride, Wilde
said to Miss Gabrielle Greeley, who was one of the party in the box:
"That is the homage which mediocrity pays to that which is not
mediocre."
[End excerpt]

Fred's Yale Book of Quotations has a different citation from the New
York Daily Tribune that credits Wilde with a phrasing which used
"compliments" instead of "homage".

Wilde employed a different but related statement in 1882 when he
delivered a lecture on the "English Renaissance" as reported in The
New York Times:

[ref] 1882 January 10, The New York Times, Oscar Wilde's Lecture: A
Large Audience Listens To the Young Aesthete, Quote Page 5, Column 2,
New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
"The pre-Raphaelites were a number of young poets and painters who
banded together in London about 30 years since to revolutionize
English poetry and painting. They had three things which the English
public never forgive--youth, power, and enthusiasm."

At this point the lecture was loudly applauded. Mr. Wilde continued:
"Satire paid them the homage which mediocrity pays to genius. Their
detractors blinded the public, but simply confirmed the artists in
their convictions. To disagree with three-fourths of all England on
all points is one of the first elements of sanity."
[End excerpt]

Wilde's remarks were members of a family of evolving statements with a
long history. The 1842 citation below is a match for the statement in
the inquiry which uses "plagiarism" instead of "imitation" and
"homage" instead of "flattery". Here is an overview with dates:

1714: Imitation is a kind of artless flattery. (The Spectator, London)

1820: Imitation is the sincerest of flattery. (Charles Caleb Colton in
his book Lacon: or, Many Things In Few Words)

1842: Plagiarism is the homage that mediocrity pays to genius. (The
Dublin Monthly Magazine of Ireland)

1851: Imitation is the homage which mediocrity pays to superiority.
(Punch, London)

1854: Imitation is the homage that dulness pays to wit. (Punch, London)

1854: Oscar Wilde was born in October 1854.

1857: Imitation is but the sincerest form of flattery! (Punch, London)

1859: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. (The Photographic
News, London)

1859: Envy is the homage which mediocrity pays to greatness. (The
Edinburgh News of Scotland)

1862: Imitation is the homage that dulness pays to genius. (Punch, London)

1874: Imitation is the highest compliment mediocrity pays to genius.
(The Huddersfield Examiner of England)

1879: Imitation is the flattery which mediocrity pays to genius.
(Muscatine Weekly Journal of Iowa)

1879: Envy is the tribute which mediocrity pays to greatness. (The
Freeman's Journal of Dublin, Ireland)

1882: That is the homage which mediocrity pays to that which is not
mediocre. (Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The Boston Daily Globe of
Massachusetts. Wilde was referring to the character Bunthorne)

1882: This is one of the compliments that mediocrity pay to those that
are not mediocre. (Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The Brooklyn Daily
Times of New York. Wilde was referring to the character Bunthorne)

1882: Satire paid them the homage which mediocrity pays to genius.
(Spoken by Oscar Wilde during a lecture reported in The New York
Times. Wilde was referring to the pre-Raphaelites)

1882: Caricaturing is "the compliment which mediocrity pays to
superiority" (Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The Daily Inter Ocean of
Chicago, Illinois)

1884: Imitation is the sincerest form of insult. (Attributed to Oscar
Wilde in Vanity Fair of London)

1884: Defamation is one of the honest tributes which mediocrity pays
to success. (Morning Appeal of Carson City, Nevada)

1884: Ridicule is the homage which mediocrity pays to genius.
(Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The Hamilton Literary Monthly of Utica,
New York)

1884: Satire is the homage that mediocrity pays to genius. (Attributed
to Oscar Wilde in The Yale Literary Magazine of New Haven,
Connecticut)

1888: Imitation is the tribute which mediocrity pays to genius. (The
Standard Stenographic Magazine, Iowa City, Iowa.)

1891: Imitation can be made the sincerest form of insult. (Oscar Wilde
in the essay The Decay of Lying)

1893: Detraction is the only tribute which mediocrity can pay to the
great. (Spoken by Herbert Beerbohm Tree during a lecture at the Royal
Institute in London)

1894: He considered caricature to be the sincerest compliment that
mediocrity could pay to merit. (Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The
Birkenhead News of England)

1936: Caricature is the tribute which mediocrity pays to genius.
(Attributed to Oscar Wilde in the book Oscar Wilde Discovers America
1882)

1999: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery mediocrity can pay
to genius. (Attributed to Oscar Wilde in The Daily News Leader of
Staunton, Virginia)

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org