A good thing Quote by Lydia Davis

Often, the idea that there can be a wide range of translations of one text doesn't occur to people - or that a translation…

— Lydia Davis

A translation can never equal the original; it can approach it, and its quality can only be judged as to accuracy by how close…

— Gregory Rabassa

“Intrinsic to the concept of a translator's fidelity to the effect and impact of the original is making the second version of the work…

— Edith Grossman

You should not translate for more than two hours at a time. After that, you lose your edge, the language becomes clumsy, rigid.

— Tom Stoppard

A translator is to be like his author; it is not his business to excel him.

— Samuel Johnson

“As long as human beings speak different languages, the need for translation will continue.”

— Nataly Kelly

For me, every translation is a new book, with the translator inevitably broadening the meaning of the original book in any translation.

— Agustin Fernandez Mallo

Translation is not original creation - that is what one must remember. In translation, some loss is inevitable.

— Joseph Brodsky

In its happiest efforts, translation is but approximation, and its efforts are not often happy. A translation may be good as translation, but it…

— George Henry Lewes

“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

It is only logical for the translator to become a part of the world of the author.

— Ventseslav Konstantinov

Even though I believe a superlative translation can achieve timelessness, that doesn't mean I think other translators shouldn't attempt other versions. The more the…

— Lydia Davis