Quote Investigator finds a close version credited to Professor Notestein in a 1929 forestry newsletter. Asa G. Baker transmitted a later variation; the research/stealing wording has circulated in several forms.
“If You Steal From One Author, It's Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It's Research” — Wallace Notestein
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Provenance
The source
Documented source
California District News Letter, November 1, 1929
Date
1929
If you copy from one book, that’s plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that’s research.
Quote Investigator finds a close version credited to Professor Notestein in a 1929 forestry newsletter. Asa G. Baker transmitted a later variation; the research/stealing wording has circulated in several forms. Read the source
The early close match is from 1929, but the precise later wording displayed here has no secure publication history.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Often misattributed
An early credit is stronger than later name recognition, but it still does not conclusively establish who coined every modern variant.
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What the evidence establishesWallace Notestein Context
Quote Investigator finds a close version credited to Professor Notestein in a 1929 forestry newsletter. Asa G. Baker transmitted a later variation; the research/stealing wording has circulated in several forms. Check the evidence
✓An early credit is stronger than later name recognition, but it still does not conclusively establish who coined every modern variant. Read the research
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Notestein is the leading authorship candidate in Quote Investigator’s chronology. Baker and Wilson Mizner appear in later stages of the saying’s circulation.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
The primary source (Chicago)
California District News Letter, November 1, 1929. 1929. Evidence and bibliographical details reproduced in the linked source; no independent access to an original edition is claimed unless stated.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If You Steal From One Author, It's Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It's Research’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-steal-from-one-author-its-plagiarism-if-you-steal/