“There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty.”

—  Edith Hamilton

Three Greek Plays, introduction (1937)
Context: 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 cease to exist, except in the libraries of a few inquisitive book lovers.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable be…" by Edith Hamilton?
Edith Hamilton photo
Edith Hamilton 26
American teacher and writer 1867–1963

Related quotes

Oscar Levant photo

“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”

Oscar Levant (1906–1972) American comedian, composer, pianist and actor

As quoted in On the 8th Day — God Laughed (1995) by Gene Perret, p. 95.

Michelangelo Buonarroti photo

“Translation:
That fount of mercy, whence we all exist,
Every beauty seen here [on earth] resembles,
More than anything else to knowing persons;”

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet

A quel pietoso fonte, onde siam tutti,
S'assembra ogni beltà che qua si vede,
Più c'altra cosa alle persone accorte;
from sonnet "Veggio nel tuo bel viso, Signor mio"
Translated by Luciano Rebay, Invitation to Italian Poetry http://books.google.com/books?id=zAnjAbsgY0gC&pg=PA77 (1969), p. 77
Variant translations:
To those who are wise, nothing more resembles that merciful spring whence all derive than every beauty to be found here;
Translated by Christopher Ryan, The poetry of Michelangelo: An Introduction http://books.google.com/books?id=Iot1KpxQJpsC&pg=PA103 (1988), p. 103
Every beauty which is seen here below by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.

Coluche photo

“Communism is one of the few grave diseases we didn't try on animals first.”

Coluche (1944–1986) French comedian and actor

Le communisme, c'est une des seules maladies graves qu'on n'a pas expérimenté d'abord sur des animaux.
[Coluche, PC-CGT, Coluche : l'intégrale, 6, Sony Music, 1996]

Virginia Woolf photo

“For it is probable that when people talk aloud, the selves (of which there may be more than two thousand) are conscious of disserverment, and are trying to communicate but when communication is established there is nothing more to be said.”

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English writer
Epictetus photo

“Not every difficult and dangerous thing is suitable for training, but only that which is conducive to success in achieving the object of our effort.”

Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
Xu Yuanchong photo

“A verse translation should be faithful to the original, less in form than in sense. Or in other words, a poetic translation should be as beautiful as the original in sense, in sound and, if possible, in form.”

Xu Yuanchong (1921) Translator of Chinese poetry

Source: 300 Tang Poems: A New Translation (1987), p. xxii

Frank Miller photo

“It's not movies and it's not "fine art." The beauty of a comic is that it's clear, direct communication. My work is getting simpler and more cartoony because I'm much more interested in communication now than in any illustrative value.”

Frank Miller (1957) American writer, artist, film director

p 276
Eisner/Miller (2005)

Anne Morrow Lindbergh photo

“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh book Gift from the Sea

Variant: One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can only collect a few. One moon shell is more impressive than three. There is only one moon in the sky.
Source: Gift from the Sea (1955), p. 114

Ellsworth Kelly photo

“I felt that everything is beautiful, but [not? ] that which man tries intentionally to make beautiful; that the work of an ordinary bricklayer is more valid than the artwork of all but a very few artists.”

Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015) American painter, sculptor, and printmaker

Quotes from 'Notes from 1969', Ellsworth Kelly; as quoted in the exhibition catalogue, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 13 December
1969 - 1980

Ellen Willis photo

“In a communications crisis, the true prophets are the translators.”

Ellen Willis (1941–2006) writer, activist

"Dylan" in Representative Men : Cult Heroes of Our Time (1970) edited by Theodore L. Gross
Context: Dylan is free now to work on his own terms. It would be foolish to predict what he will do next. But hopefully he will remain a mediator, using the language of pop to transcend it. If the gap between past and present continues to widen, such mediation may be crucial. In a communications crisis, the true prophets are the translators.

Related topics