To be truly ourselves is a brave act of originality. Songwriter Roger Miller once said, “I always took a great deal of pride in being original.” These quotations honor the wild, shining parts of us that refuse to be imitations, inviting us to live from our own heart and experience.

It is always better to be an original than an imitation. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

An original is hard to find but easy to recognize. ~ John Mason

Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation, profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit. ~ Ansel Adams

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. ~ Herman Melville

All good things which exist are the fruits of originality. ~ John Stuart Mill

Many have original minds who do not think it; they are led away by custom. ~ John Keats

Originality is the only thing that counts. But the originator uses material and ideas that occur around him and pass through him. And out of his experience comes the original creation. ~ George Gershwin

Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility. ~ Charles Baudelaire

Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. ~ François Voltaire

What is originality? It is being one’s self, and reporting accurately what we see and are. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most of my clichés aren’t original. ~ Chuck Knox

The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels. ~ Simone de Beauvoir

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards. ~ Arthur Koestler

It is necessary to any originality to have the courage to be an amateur. ~ Wallace Stevens, Adagia