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Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

The truth is that every writer, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, is trying to write something truly original and that's what I think I'm doing.

About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.

Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

The laws of literary creation are unique; they don't change, and they are the same for everyone everywhere. I mean that you can tell a story that covers three hours of human life or three centuries - it comes to the same thing. Each writer who creates something authentic in a natural way instinctively also creates the technique that suits him.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

For someone who made such an enormous contribution to American literature, Mark Twain has been the subject of many books but few major biographies.

Very few people are original. There's very little original anything out there. Because to be original means you have to stand alone.

I was able to work out all sorts of attitudes to style and event and character, all of which affected the way I came to think about my own writing. I believe that all good writers are original.