imitated quotes

Le ge  nie se sent; mais il ne s'imite point. Genius is felt, but it is not imitated.

- Denis Diderot
  Discours sur la poe  sie dramatique.

Is there anyone among the great men who has not imitated? Nothing is made with nothing.

-Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
  Quoted in Henri Delaborde Ingres, sa vie, ses travaux, sa doctrine (1870).