Translation Quotes

Translation Quotes

Edith Hamilton

Rating - 4 (5 Votes)

There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try, something unique and never surpassed will ...

Robert Frost

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

As far as modern writing is concerned, it is rarely rewarding to translate it, although it might be easy.

Ezra Pound

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

A great age of literature is perhaps always a great age of translations.

Leonardo Sciascia

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

The best thing on translation was said by Cervantes: translation is the other side of a tapestry.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

It were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its color and odor, as seek to transfuse from one language ...

Voltaire

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

Woe to the makers of literal translations, who by rendering every word weaken the meaning! It is indeed by so doing that we can say the letter kills and the ...

Virginia Woolf

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

Humor is the first gift to perish in a foreign language.

Walter Benjamin

Rating - 3 (1 Votes)

Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information -- hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations.

Hilarious, sad, thoughtful or just plain wrong, translation quotes are an easy way to amuse yourself and express your own thoughts through the words of others. How many times have you heard translation quotes tossed around in casual conversation? It's impossible to stay completely current on all translation quotes, but the major ones are easy enough to find. What better way to show how aware you are of the current culture and celebrity than by tossing a few translation quotes into a conversation with your friends? Having a ready supply of translation quotes can also come in very handy in a dull conversation when you need to take the conversation an entirely new direction. Our collection of translation quotes is comprehensive and fun - enjoy them!