Transcript for accessibility purposes:
“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
Herman Melville
This is a short but powerful quote and also something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. I don't take it 100% literally because I understand the value of leveraging previous knowledge and building on other people's work and contributions so maybe my interpretation of this quote is not exactly what the author had in mind when he said it.
Nonetheless, I will try to make my point in a few quick lines.
I just feel like no one is ever 100% of what they are doing and we are all just trying to go through life the best way we can.
Sure, some people learned a thing or two either from experience, education or whatever another source there is and they are maybe more suited to avoid some mistakes that many will make but, in reality, there is no "map" to life so, in a way, we are all stumbling around trying to make our own maps.
In that sense, I believe it's better to trail our own path rather than follow other people's exacts steps. Again, there are things you can and should learn from others and apply to your own life, but don't forget to leave some footprints of your own.