Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Imitation
L’imitazione del male supera sempre l’esempio; comme per il contrario, l’imitazione del bene è sempre inferiore.
He who imitates what is evil always goes beyond the example that is set; on the contrary, he who imitates what is good always falls short.
Guicciardini—Storia d’ Italia.
Respicere exemplar vitæ morumque jubebo
Doctum imitatorem, et veras hinc ducere voces.
I would advise him who wishes to imitate well, to look closely into life and manners, and thereby to learn to express them with truth.
Horace—Are Poetica. CCCXVII.
Pindarum quisquis studet æmulari,
Iule ceratis ope Dædalea
Nititur pennis, vitreo daturus
Nomina ponto.
He who studies to imitate the poet Pindar, O Julius, relies on artificial wings fastened on with wax, and is sure to give his name to a glassy sea.
Horace—Carmina. IV. 2. 1.
Dociles imitandis
Turpibus ac pravis omnes sumus.
We are all easily taught to imitate what is base and depraved.
Juvenal—Satires. XIV. 40.
C’est un bétail servile et sot à mon avis
Que les imitateurs.
Imitators are a slavish herd and fools in my opinion.
La Fontaine—Clymène. V. 54.
Der Mensch ist ein nachahmendes Geschöpf.
Und wer der Vorderste ist, führt die Heerde.
An imitative creature is man; whoever is foremost, leads the herd.
Schiller—Wallenstein’s Tod. III. 4. 9.