William Ralph Inge

"What is originality?  Undetected plagiarism."

— William Ralph Inge
English Author
1860 - 1954

Is it possible in this day and age to create something original.  Probably not.  Everything we create is build upon the past.  Artists are influenced by earlier artists.  Poets are influenced by other poets.  What we do is change, adapt and modify the works of others.  Even the Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun.  So in a sense, we all plagiarize.  Even those who sue others over copyright infringement have plagiarized earlier works.  So don't fret.  Even the best artists have stolen from others.

Georgia O'Keefe

"I decided to start anew — to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true my own thinking."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Painter

1887 - 1986

Papaya Tree-Iao Valley
(1939)

By the time we reach adulthood, we have subconsciously learned a lot about the expectations of the people in our lives — our family, our teachers and our friends.  And we often try to live our lives as others want us to live and work.  The problem comes in when we fail to live up to those expectations.  Some people spend unhappy lives trying to please others.  A few creative leaders are able to shake off the expectations of others and discover their true self.  Who are you?  Are you trying to please your family, friends and teachers?  Or have you discovered the person who you are meant to be?  Turning your back on what you were taught can be very difficult.  Letting go of the past can be very traumatic, but if you want to attain the person you were meant to be, you must find your own voice.

Howard Aiken

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas.  If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

— Howard Aiken

American Professor/Computer Engineer

1900 - 1973

Writers sometimes worry about someone stealing their ideas or their work.  And while this may happen from time to time, it is not as prevalent as people might think.  In fact, truly original ideas are almost never stolen because nobody believes in them.  Today the Impressionists painters are celebrated throughout the world, but in their day there were considered failed artists.  Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime and that was to his brother.

Today the light bulb is taken for granted, but in the late 1800's most people would have thought you were crazy if you told them that you came from a world lighted by electricity and light bulbs.  In fact, Thomas Edison originally developed the light bulb to light baseball fields. 

Howard Aiken knows of what he speaks.  He was the conceptual designer in 1944 behind the Mark I computer originally called the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator.  Think about what it would take to sell the concept of a computer when it had not even been invented.  Nobody would steal the idea.  You would have to ram it down their throats.

What truly original ideas do you have?  Don't worry if nobody believes your idea will work.  That only means it must be original and only you can bring the idea to life.  Don't live in fear of someone stealing your ideas.  Live in fear that you will not give birth to an original idea.