On being original
Which is all to say: there is always something a little, well, dangerous, about the concept of originality: a danger that has been elided by our contemporary startup-statured culture, which holds as gospel that imitation is for normies, and innovation for the kind of geniuses most people now secretly believe themselves to be.
Tara Isabella Burton • Original Sin—A Theological Reading of Innovation
What does originality mean to you?
Risk-taking. There are already so many rules in the world, and on top of that, we create so many rules and restrictions for ourselves. The ultimate luxury is to be able to create freely.
Risk-taking. There are already so many rules in the world, and on top of that, we create so many rules and restrictions for ourselves. The ultimate luxury is to be able to create freely.
Eli Russell Linnetz • Eli Russell Linnetz Follows His Intuition
I tend to mostly value sincerity over originality. I think I perform better when I focus less on being original and more on being honest.
Timothy Ferriss • Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World
“What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.” — William Ralph Inge
Austin Kleon • Steal Like An Artist - a book by Austin Kleon
It’s also understandable that some hesitate to step into the intellectual sphere today because it feels like everything has already been said and done. We live in a time where every thought, argument, counterargument, and counter -counterargument have already been made and analyzed. The modern landscape isn’t necessarily devoid of intellectuals,... See more
The death of the public intellectual
There’s a frustration in feeling like every idea has already been picked apart by someone smarter, faster, and with a larger audience than you. For many, the impulse to add to the conversation is suffocated by their fear of redundancy. I’m sure a lot of us can relate to that—I know every time I go to write an essay, I feel like I’m just echoing... See more