John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
6327 Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 6327 |
| AUTHOR: | Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) |
| QUOTATION: | Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Letters and Social Aims. Quotation and Originality. |
| Note 1. There is not less wit nor less invention in applying rightly a thought one finds in a book, than in being the first author of that thought. Cardinal du Perron has been heard to say that the happy application of a verse of Virgil has deserved a talent.—Bayle: vol. ii. p. 779. Though old the thought and oft exprest, ’T is his at last who says it best. Lowell: For an Autograph. [back] |