Books Quote by Lydia Davis

Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…

— Ursula K. Le Guin

However, there is one great temptation and that is that you can forget that the aim of the writer was to reject all other…

— Ventseslav Konstantinov

It is the task of the translator to release in his own language that pure language that is under the spell of another, to…

— Walter Benjamin

Translators are the shadow heroes of literature, the often forgotten instruments that make it possible for different cultures to talk to one another, who…

— Paul Auster

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

— Samuel Johnson

“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

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

— Ventseslav Konstantinov

“It is natural for a translator to be prejudiced in favour of his adopted work. More impartial readers may not be so much struck…

— Horace Walpole

“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

“Translators are the shadow heroes of literature.”

— Paul Auster

Translation is a form of passive aggression. In doing it, a writer chooses to forgo original authorship so as to play havoc with a…

— Lawrence Venuti

“My goal is to act as a faithful interpreter, preserving as much of the original's nuances of meaning as possible without embellishment or omission.…

— Ken Liu