The entire history of literature-a secret history that no one will ever be able to write except in part, because authors are too skilful at obscuring themselves-can be seen as a sinuous garland of plagiarism. By this I do not mean functional plagiarism, due to haste and laziness, such as Stendhal’s plundering of Lanzi; but the other kind, based on admiration and as a process of physiological assimilation that is one of the best protected mysteries of literature.
Roberto Calasso
La Folie Baudelaire
Time's Flow Stemmed 
“Don’t ask who’s influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he’s digested, and I’ve been reading all my life.” — Giorgos Seferis
Thank you, Magda, for that wonderful quotation.