Why do we cite?

We cite because we show the respect that we would like others to show us and because taking credit for someone elses work is just plain cheating. If sombody did this to me i would be very upset and i would tell them you are welcome to use my work but please give me credit for all the hard work i did. The most famolus plagiarism i can remember is a book author who's book was featured on Oprah's book club i think it was about his childhood and it was later found out some of it was made up so some of his book was a lie.