Plagiarism is a complex ethical issue. Good writing is intended to inspire imitation. We write so that others will take our ideas and make them their own; and if they are writers, adopting our expressions in defense of the same ideas would be "the sincerest form of flattery". In fact, this may be the greatest satisfaction of writing well--to hear your ideas spread to other people, particularly in the very same words.
A good writer would not fear this sort of plagiarism--in fact, many crave it, and all great writers engage in it themselves. We could not write in modern English if we were forbidden to imitate Shakespeare. There would be no such thing as the "romantic comedy" if screenwriters couldn't wantonly plagiarize Jane Austen. The sort of plagiarism that is frowned upon is lazy, thoughtless plagiarism--committed for money or academic distinctions, without acknowledging the source.
Writers have a responsibility to their readers to corroborate their statements, so that they can follow the path of the writer's research and judge for themselves whether their sources are accurate and credible.
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