“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.”
– Voltaire
There is no such thing as originality. We get our ideas from others who got their ideas from others, going back through the generations to the brilliant flash of a moment when we were blessed with self-conscious awareness.
Most of the ideas I write about on this site were introduced to me by other writers. They are not my own. However, those ideas were not their original ideas either, so I don’t feel so bad stealing them. It’s like stealing from a thief, and I have no problem if “my” ideas are also burglarized.
And even if those writers came up with the ideas on their own without having read about or been taught them by others, the ideas have been had before, many times.
In that sense, nothing is original.
But in another sense, everything is original, aside from outright plagiarism.
When we steal ideas from others and run with them, we necessarily add our own personal, unique twist to them. We interpret them in our own way, and in turn, our readers/listeners/consumers interpret our renditions in their own ways.
Although I steal most of my ideas, perhaps this is the first time you’ve read some of them. I take comfort in that. And now you can abscond with the ideas here which resonate with you, add your own personal twist, then allow others to do the same to you. We are all connected.
In the end, it’s far better to steal the ideas we love than simply to accept the ones forced upon us.