A good composer does not imitate; he steals.
Igor Stravinsky

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
Niccolo Machiavelli

Always imitate the behavior of the winners when you lose.
George Meredith

And out of a desire essentially to imitate what I was reading, I began to write, like a clever monkey.
Russell Banks

Art does imitate life, it has to come from somewhere. To put boundaries and limitations on it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Christian Slater

Art may imitate life, but life imitates TV.
Ani DiFranco

Art may imitate wild nature; less often does it dare to place itself in the midst of it, and when it does, it may come out second best.
John Hart

But I think the image that's thrown out on television is a bad image. Because you see players who want to imitate hip-hop stars. And the NBA is taking advantage of the situation.
Oscar Robertson

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.
James A. Baldwin

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.
John Ruskin

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.
Albert Schweitzer

Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.
Christian Nestell Bovee

He's a guy's guy, so it pretty much became like the impressions - don't imitate Sean Connery's voice, and things like that. We were all kind of doing it towards the end of the film, anyway, and he was cool with it.
Shane West

Hollywood has an obligation to watch what they put out there. Kids do imitate what they see - good or bad.
Morgan Brittany

I always admired virtue - but I could never imitate it.
Charles II

I could tell you which writer's rhythms I am imitating. It's not exactly plagiarism, it's falling in love with good language and trying to imitate it.
Charles Kuralt

I did not come into contact with any Muslim before I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized no person is perfect, Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet... we will be successful.
Cat Stevens

I discovered very early that it wasn't quite enough for me to imitate people.
Cecil Taylor

I don't want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.
Ernst Fischer

I don't want to imitate life in movies; I want to represent it. And in that representation, you use the colors you feel, and sometimes they are fake colors. But always it's to show one emotion.
Pedro Almodovar