I have seen books made of things neither studied nor ever understood... the author contenting himself for his own part, to have cast the plot and projected the design of it, and by his industry to have bound up the fagot of unknown provisions; at least the ink and paper his own. This may be said to be a buying or borrowing, and not a making or compiling of a book.

Autobiography: Comprising the Life of the Wisest Man of His Times... (ed. 1956)