Most of the world would be surprised to know how few of our thoughts are really original with ourselves. What we write and say is, for the most part, a kind of mosaic interweaving of ideas and recollections gathered together out of other people’s talk or books. The combination and rearrangement of them is about all we can call our own. When a man does really evolve an original thought out of his own mind, it is the exception, rather than the rule. It is usually the fruit, either of patient study, or of fresh and vivid experience.
Complete Works of Milton Vol1
c. 1698
A complete collection of the historical, political, and miscellaneous works of the John Milton. Milton was an English poet and intellectual who wrote during a period of political and religious turmoil. This book was a gift from Samuel Swazey Seward to William H. Seward.