Quote

Human beings all mimic each other.

The human is indissolubly linked with imitation: a human being only becomes human at all by imitating other human beings.

We are a unique ape. We have language. Other animals have systems of communication that fall far short of that. They don't have the same ability to communicate complicated conditionals and what-ifs and talk about things that are not present.

Ask, 'How are we different from the great apes?' We have culture, we have civilisation, and we have language to be celebrated as part of being human.

We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes.

Of course as children, we all, in all cultures and societies, learn behavior from observation, imitation, and encouragement of various kinds. So by the suggestion made, we all 'pretend' most of the time.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

Monkeys are superior to men in this: when a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.

I was probably a bit of a mimic when I was a kid, and I used to imitate people.

I knew that we were clicking when mimics started kidding my voice, I'll know that I'm on the way out when they stop doing their imitations.