Quotes about imitation

Imitation is the sincerest form of television.

— Fred A. Allen

You may imitate, but never counterfeit.

— Honore De Balzac

Man is an idiot. He doesn't know how to do anything without copying, without imitating, without plagiarizing, without aping. It might even have been that man invented generation by coitus after seeing the grasshopper copulate.

— Augusto Roa Bastos

Imitation belittles.

— Christian Nevell Bovee

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

— Jean Cocteau

I have found some of the best reasons I ever had for remaining at the bottom simply by looking at the men at the top.

— Frank Moore Colby

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

— Salvador Dali

Imitation is suicide.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Imitation, if it is not forgery, is a fine thing. It stems from a generous impulse, and a realistic sense of what can and cannot be done.

— James Fenton

To equal a predecessor, one must have twice they worth.

— Baltasar Gracian

One who imitates what is bad always goes beyond his model; while one who imitates what is good always comes up short of it.

— Francesco Guicciardini

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

— Eric Hoffer

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

— Samuel Johnson

No man was ever great by imitation.

— Samuel Johnson

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

— Carl Jung

The only good imitations are those that poke fun at bad originals.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations.

— Francois De La Rochefoucauld

To do the opposite of something is also a form of imitation, namely an imitation of its opposite.

— Georg C. Lichtenberg

Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even though they cannot entirely keep to the tracks of others or emulate the prowess of their models. So a prudent man should always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding. If his own prowess fails to compare with theirs, at least it has an air of greatness about it. He should behave like those archers who, if they are skilful, when the target seems too distant, know the capabilities of their bow and aim a good deal higher than their objective, not in order to shoot so high but so that by aiming high they can reach the target.

— Niccolo Machiavelli

To be as good as our fathers we must be better, imitation is not discipleship

— Wendell Phillips

To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.

— Pablo Picasso

Artistic genius is an expansion of monkey imitativeness.

— W. Winwood Reade

Man's natural character is to imitate; that of the sensitive man is to resemble as closely as possible the person whom he loves. It is only by imitating the vices of others that I have earned my misfortunes.

— Marquis De Sade

Posterity weaves no garlands for imitators.

— Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people.

— Arthur Schopenhauer

It is well to respect the leader. Learn from him. Observe him. Study him. But don't worship him. Believe you can surpass. Believe you can go beyond. Those who harbor the second-best attitude are invariably second-best doers.

— David J. Schwartz

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.

— Seneca

Simplicity of all things is the hardest to be copy.

— Sir Richard Steele

Nature is commonplace. Imitation is more interesting.

— Gertrude Stein

He who never walks except where he sees other men's tracks will make no discoveries.

— Source Unknown

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

— Charles Caleb Colton