@boblet

Good artists copy, great artists steal

One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.

A quote by T.S. Elliott from “Great artists steal the future” by Brian Ford, a precursor to Picasso’s famous “good artists copy, great artists steal” line.

Notes

1. theselcouth likes this
2. kiley-morgan reblogged this from boblet
3. thec13 reblogged this from boblet
4. thec13 likes this
5. boblet posted this