On the topic of originals, copies and collages

While discussing authenticity, I came to think of a quote, which we Danes like to attribute to Søren Kierkegaard - symptomatically enough, I think it actually originates from the English poet Edward Young, who died about half a century before Kierkegaard's birth:

We are all born originals - why is it so many of us die copies?

For that question, I think I know a good answer: we die copies, because we have gathered inspiration from people, we have met over time, from whom we have let inspiration rub off. And the fascinating part is that hardly anyone - maybe not even in totalitarian regimes, eventhough, fortunately, my knowledge of said regimes is limited - die as exact copies of a certain other person. Rather, we die as collages of numerous other people, who then again themselves were collages of those people who inspired them.
Which is quite fortunate, I think. Otherwise, none of us could reach higher by standing on the shoulders of giants of the past.
(Translated from Noget om originaler, kopier og collager, originally published October 17, 2015)