Originality

Gene Fant at Evangel has the misfortune of being surrounded by people who recognize his influences:

.... Twice in the past week, I thought I’d said something relatively clever only to have someone say, "It’s funny that you say that: I was reading something that C.S. Lewis wrote about that very idea not long ago...." If it’s not Lewis, it’s G.K. Chesterton: "Chesterton, of course, pointed out that...." I swear, I am sick to death of pulling myself up onto a new limb of thinking only to find one of those two guys sitting there smiling smugly. ....

...I am constantly reminded that the Preacher of Ecclesiastes was right when he reminded us, "Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us" (1:10). For some reason, most of us believe our thoughts to be immensely wiser or more innovative than those of past thinkers. I suppose I could call this epiphany "chronological snobbery," an arrogant belief that what we think now is far superior to what the ancients had thought.

No...wait a minute...blast that C.S. Lewis!

"I think Lewis said somewhere..." may be one of the most common phrases out of my mouth, but, even so, I really ought to use it more often. If not Lewis, then Burke, or.... I doubt that I have ever had an original thought - or even an original formulation of a thought.

I’m Sick and Tired of Lewis and Chesterton » Evangel | A First Things Blog