Creativity in its various forms are one of humankind's greatest gifts. If you think of great art, literature or music, these things are not created (Initially at least) for any reason other than the moment of inspiration.
This is true, and yet every artist is working with all the ideas other artists had already, and if you check, everything is the copy of a copy of a copy.
Very few people come up with really original ideas that have never been there before.
Just check out the book with the title "Steal like an artist" by Austin Kleon
There is also a quote from a Hungarian poet Arany János:
Lie, poet, lie; but don't be caught at it.
Liars are all lame ducks and often slip,
And once a poem slips it can't get up."
Translated by J. G. Nichols translated
First thing you learn in the creative industry: Take all those ideas and form and spin them until you can make them your own.
I know exactly what you're talking about, another quote that reflects this is from Jim Jarmusch.
But I would question his use of the word 'theft' and 'steal'. I get why he uses them, he's trying to be hard-hitting. But the reality is that just because you find inspiration from for e.g. Norse mythology does that mean Neil Gaiman's American Gods is theft? Is it fuck.
Inspiration borrows from the past indisputably. But American Gods as a work of fiction isn't just a recounting of the Norse mythologies.
I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying:
and
100% agree with both those statements. Any serious writer knows them to be true 👍