Only roam on, therefore, all fearless, in the many garden of romantic chivalrous poesy, which drawing within its circle all that is glorious and inspiring, gave itself but little concern as to where its flowers originally grew. – C.O. Müller (Karl Otfried Müller), Introduction to a Scientific System

Most of the classical citations you shall hear or read in the current journals or speeches were not drawn from the originals, but from previous quotations in English books… – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims, 1876

Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests and mines and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Plato; Or, The Philosopher”