In a traditional civilization
it is almost inconceivable that a man
should claim an idea as his own; and in any case,
were he to do so, he would thereby deprive it of all credit
and authority, reducing it to the level of a meaningless fantasy:
if an idea is true, it belongs equally to all who are capable of
understanding it; if it is false, there is no credit in having invented it.
A true idea cannot be 'new', for truth is not a product of the human mind;
it exists independently of us, and all we have to do is to take
cognizance of it; outside this knowledge
there can be nothing but error.

The Crisis of the Modern World
René Guénon