More unjustifiable than the obsession…

More unjustifiable than the obsession with originality is the embarrassment arising from the realization that what was said now had already been said a long time ago. What to say? The author who, recording his own impressions, notices something that has already been noticed before, instead of being embarrassed that he was not the first, or that he did not know the primary source—which is often untraceable—should be satisfied with having come to the same conclusion through direct perception, rejoicing as do those who find something in common in the other.