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.
"The Old Mill" by George L. Clough
c. 1870
Oil painting "The Old Mill" by Auburn and Cayuga County Artist George L. Clough
Water-powered mill with water flowing over the overshot waterwheel. Some clapboards and shingles missing on building. Pigeons perch on roof. A young boy with a fishing pole walks in foreground at right.