Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Jefferson , Thomas and Bergh , Albert Ellery (2010-04-20), The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 6, Nabu Press, Retrieved on 2011-06-16
Folksonomies: politics history ideas classic Memes
16 JUN 2011
Thomas Jefferson on the Sharing of Ideas
If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me...Sharing an idea does not make my ownership of it any less, but rather makes it spread like lighting one candle from another.