Adversity Quote by Lydia Davis

The translator's task is to create, in his or her own language, the same tensions appearing in the original. That's hard!

— Manuel Puig

“We are struggling with language. We are engaged in a struggle with language.”

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

“The translator's task is essentially a difficult and often a thankless one. He is severely criticized if he makes a mistake, but only faintly…

— Eugene A. Nida

“To translate a text is to be conducted into its mysteries in a way that no mere act of reading—however conscientious or frequent—makes possible.…

— David Bentley Hart

“You must understand the language of your enemy.”

— Barbara Kingsolver

“I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about it's use. It is hitting below the intellect.”

— Oscar Wilde

“Brute force will sometimes get you through a challenge, but usually not without hurting and depleting yourself in the process.”

— Bryant McGill

“The most aggressive and therefore the most dangerous words in the languages of the world are to be found in the assertion I AM.”

— Donald Woods Winnicott

“You’ve fought for me. You’ve challenged me. You’ve begged me and left me and come back to me”

— Liz Reinhardt

“A translator, caught in the space between two tongues. Such people tend to come a little bit unglued from the task of trying to…

— Elena Mauli Shapiro

The writing I do makes great demands on translators.

— W. G. Sebald

(...) the translator of prose is the slave of the author and the translator of poetry is his rival.

— Andreï Makine