Why then should I give my Readers bad Lines of my own, when good Ones of other People’s are so plenty? ‘Tis methinks a poor Excuse for the bad Entertainment of Guests, that the Food we set before them, tho’ coarse and ordinary, is of one’s own Raising, off one’s own Plantation, &c. when there is Plenty of what is ten times better, to be had in the Market. — On the contrary, I assure ye, my Friends, that I have procur’d the best I could for ye, and much Good may’t do ye.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist

Poor Richard’s Almanack (1747)
    (Source)

On his borrowing of maxims and aphorisms of others for his almanac.