世上的事情都已有人讲过了，我们比人类开始思维晚了7000多年。——拉布吕耶尔（法国散文家）

Everything has been said, and we are more than seven thousand years of human thought too late. ——Jean De La Bruyere (1645-1696)

我们所能说的无非是前人说过的。诗人借鉴于荷马。小说家也大体如此；生得最晚的常常说的最好。——罗伯特·伯顿（1621-1651）《忧郁的解剖》

We can say nothing but what hath been said. Our poets steal from Homer. Our story-dressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly best. ——Robert Burton (1621-1651) The Anatomy of Melancholy