"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" is attributed to Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832). But we still are unaware of the context in which this was said. Was it said with the flatterer in mind or the one being flattered. As far as my experience goes its only the one being imitated who gets to bear a smile as he witnesses his ideas, his thoughts, his style and his originality being stolen..oh did I say stolen? I am sorry, "imitated" it is. Ah! keep the crap aside. This is no imitation. Not acknowledging the genius of someone who dared to think otherwise and not crediting him for something which has caught the eye of many does not refer to imitation. This is stealing.
"So?? Imitation or stealing, I dont care. It sells. I get noticed and become popular." - say many who are on the other side of the court. They say he was foolish enough to not have fully utilized his capacity. "If he wanted he could have done what I am doing. But he didnt. He lost it. His loss was my gain. You see talent never gets wasted. It just gets credited to people who deserve it."
There are some things that I am good at and its nice to see people imitate me or emulate me as far as these are concerned. But when I try my hand at something totally new, to which I am a complete stranger, for which my confidence levels are bare minimum and I rely on my 'much-experienced' friends' advice to do better at it and when I see these friends 'getting inspired' by this approach of mine, the kind of high that gives me cannot be expressed. To top it all, they never accept the 'getting inspired' part and I dont bother to mention it to them. I am elated and believe that 'Imitation is the best form of flattery' whether the accidental flatterer accepts it or not.
Although I have another something once said by someone more popular - "Talent imitates, genius steals" by TS Elliot.
2 comments:
however much i would love to look at the art of flattery the way you, i am afraid thats not the case...not yet atleast...
i disagree completely with your comparisons of 'inspiration' & 'flattery'...
the very fact that the two are fundamentally based on diametrically opposite principles denies that they can be sides of the same coin !!!
I never compared inspiration and flattery.. i have talked about 'imitation' and 'flattery'. People who call their copying, their imitation of someone or something as 'insipiration'.. People who are not really inspired but are plainly imitating someone under the covers of 'inspiration'...
Wouldnt you be flattered when someone tries everything in his/her capacity to impress your BOSS the way you do when what you actually do is just plain work and nothing else.
Wouldnt you be flattered when someone uses your topic and almost the same content to speak in a gathering which you had used a couple of weeks back in front of a set of people (all this without your knowledge coz they are 'inspired' and are not imitating)..
Well i would be... Even though at some time i might feel annoyed but in the end its always me who has the last laugh..
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