Picasso, Degas, and Swimming

My niece Rachel just visited before leaving Brooklyn for Berkeley to start grad school. We saw "Picasso Looks at Degas" at the Clark Art Institute http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/picasso-degas/content/exhibition.cfm

Pablo Picasso famously, or mythically, said: Good artists borrow, great artists steal."

But like many who speak memorable lines, did he mean it? The bravado and decisiveness of stealing appeals, but I thought the back and forth of borrowing held more truth as I looked at the pa...