Be influenced and be proud of it

Everyone of us, and at least once during our lifetime, has heard something that goes like this:

"Why do you keep repeating the thoughts and ideas of thinker Z, writer Y or Poet X!
Why don't you come up with your own original thoughts, notes and why not provoking questions?"

It is funny because I have heard these a couple of times already, and I can't help it but to think about it and reflect for a moment;
What does the question even mean? has anyone ever lived without being somehow influenced, to some extent, by friends he/she looks up to, or authors or politicians or economists or... ?

As further back in human history as we can get to remember or document, no one has ever had all the great ideas, curiosity or intellectual appetite without first being induced and challenged by the world.