Definitions HQ

Originality (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠often an illusion that study dissolves: the apparent new creation is something forgotten revived on fresh material.

Originality (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be only apparent: ideas received without being grasped lie dormant, until one day they awake as an apparently original discovery.

Originality (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠painful to surrender — I announced bisexuality to my friend as my own idea, and had forgotten he had told me so years before.

Originality (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be a dormant borrowing: remarks by Breuer, Charcot and Chrobak about sex lay inactive in Freud until his work woke them as his own discovery.

Originality (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be had in three days, by Börne's recipe: write down everything that comes to mind, without falsification; Freud had read it as a boy.