No man is an island. We are social beings who talk, listen and read about others and what they say or write. If we lived on a deserted Island there would be little intellectual stimulation, other than our own self absorbed thoughts. Of course, we make what we learn and read "ours", just like we make our life our own, or our house our own. Most people don't build their own house (although some do), and we make the bricks and mortar our "home". Our inner being and life doesn't belong to the builder of our home. It was built to live in and make it our own. We don't live our lives through other people's, we develop our own unique vision, see and experience through our own eyes, even though we read what others wrote. That's a necessary part of learning and writing. We're here to write, not reinvent the wheel.