Quotes about translation
page 8

Susan Sontag photo
Kuba Wojewódzki photo

“In defiance of other judges I have faith in your voice. Voice of your common sense. Give this job up. Thank you very much”

Kuba Wojewódzki (1963) Polish journalist

A ja na przekór kolegom wierzę w twój głos. W twój głos rozsądku. Rzuć tę robotę. Dziękujemy ci bardzo.
To Idol contestants

Kuba Wojewódzki photo

“You have only one disadvantage: you don't have any advantages.”

Kuba Wojewódzki (1963) Polish journalist

Masz tylko jedną wadę: brak Ci zalet.
To Idol contestants

Plautus photo

“Keep what you’ve got; the evil that we know is best. (translator Thornton)”
Habeus ut nactus ; nota mala res optima’st.

Trinummus, Act I, scene 2, lines 25
Trinummus (The Three Coins)

“Having lost the last war, they are currently enjoying a Wirtschaftswunder, which can be briefly translated as "The best way to own a Mercedes is to build one."”

Alan Coren (1938–2007) humorist and writer from the United Kingdom

"All You Need To Know About Europe", Germany.
The Sanity Inspector (1974)

Abdul Halim of Kedah photo

“Academic excellency and moral of students should be achieved with integration because good morals directly will shape a conducive environment for students to achieve success.”

Abdul Halim of Kedah (1927–2017) King of Malaysia

SMJK Keat Hwa Excellence Award Day 2017 https://www.bharian.com.my/node/283525

Kurt Tucholský photo

“Translated: Mankind doesn't grant itself anything—that is why it has invented the law. It isn't allowed for him so it shouldn't be allowed for others.”

Kurt Tucholský (1890–1935) German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer

Der Mensch gönnt seiner Gattung nichts, daher hat er die Gesetze erfunden. Er darf nicht, also sollen die andern auch nicht.
From Der Mensch, published 1931.

Jacopo Sannazaro photo

“Man is only miserable so far as he thinks himself so.”

Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530) Italian writer

Tanto è miser l'uom quant' ei si riputa.
Ecloga Octava; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), "Mind".

John Stuart Mill photo
Montesquieu photo

“I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should appear like a fool but be wise.”

Montesquieu (1689–1755) French social commentator and political thinker

J'ai toujours vu que, pour réussir dans le monde, il fallait avoir l'air fou et être sage.
Pensées Diverses

Wen Jiabao photo

“I only have one sentence to say: it is the people who kept you fed, so do as you see fit.”

Wen Jiabao (1942) former Premier of the People's Republic of China

Wen Jiabao (2008) cited in: In Chinese:军队行动迟缓 温家宝怒摔电话, 16 May 2008, Renminbao.com http://renminbao.com/rmb/articles/2008/5/16/47669.html,
During 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Wen's angry reply to the PLA rescue team about their delays before they boarded the rescue plane:

“are the familiar translations and rotations… made in proving the theorems of Euclid.”

Howard P. Robertson (1903–1961) American mathematician and physicist

Geometry as a Branch of Physics (1949)

“When the prayer is granted, they cheat the saint.”

Stefano Guazzo (1530–1593) Italian writer

Fatto il voto, gabbano il Santo.
Del Conoscimento di se stesso, p. 457.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 300.

Gildas photo

“Meanwhile the hooked weapons of their enemies were not idle, and our wretched countrymen were dragged from the wall and dashed against the ground.”
Interea non cessant uncinata nudorum tela, quibus miserrimi cives de muris tracti solo allidebantur.

Section 19.
Gildas here describes post-Roman Britons on Hadrian's Wall defending it against the Scots and Picts below. This bizarre image, familiar to students of British history for generations, is belied by a more recent translation which runs, "Meanwhile there was no respite from the barbed spears flung by their naked opponents, which tore our wretched countrymen from the walls and dashed them to the ground." (Michael Winterbottom (trans.) Gildas: The Ruin of Britain and Other Works (1978) p. 23).
De Excidio Britanniae (On the Ruin of Britain)

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes photo
Pope Benedict XVI photo

“The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and simply asserts being, "I am", already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am". This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria - the Septuagint - is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.”

Pope Benedict XVI (1927) 265th Pope of the Catholic Church

2006, Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections (2006)

John Banville photo
Kenneth Gärdestad photo

“I want to have my own moon, I can go to
Where I can forget that you left me
I can sit on my moon and do what I want
Where I stay until everything is alright.”

Kenneth Gärdestad (1948–2018) Swedish song lyricist, architect and lecturer

Jag vill ha en egen måne, jag kan åka till
Där jag kan glömma att du lämnat mig
Jag kan sitta på min måne och göra vad jag vill
Där stannar jag tills allting ordnat sig.
"Jag vill ha en egen måne", lyrics written by Kenneth
Song lyrics, With Ted Gärdestad, Undringar (1972)

“The man of mark is never appreciated, either in his lifetime or in his own country.”

Camillo Federici (1749–1802) Italian actor and playwright (1749-1802)

L’uomo insigne non è mai apprezzato nè in vita, nè in patria.
I Preguidizi del Paesi Piccoli, Act II., Sc. V. — (L’Uffiziale).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 338.

George Hendrik Breitner photo

“Snow had fallen and from the museum [in Pittsburgh, The ] you had a beautiful view of a valley with a railway, through some sheds, etc. But I could not finish it, and today, Sunday, I went back there again, but then the snow was already so far away that I could not make anything of it any more. It is a pity. Otherwise I could have sold something. [The painting was sold to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1934] (translation from the original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)”

George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) Dutch painter and photographer

version in original Dutch (citaat van Breitner's brief, in het Nederlands:) Er was namelijk sneeuw gevallen en uit het museum [in Pittsburgh, Breitner nam deel aan een jury en maakte vanuit een raam aan de achterzijde van het Carnegie Institute enkele schetsen en begon aan een schilderij] had men een prachtig gezicht op een dal met een spoorweg, door wat loodsen, enz. Maar ik kon 't niet afkrijgen, en vandaag, zondag, was ik er weer heengegaan, maar toen was de sneeuw al zoo ver dat ik [er] niets meer van kon maken. Het is wel jammer. Anders had ik nog wat kunnen verkoopen misschien. [Het schilderij is in 1934 verkocht aan het Stedelijk museum Amsterdam.]
In Breitner' letter to his wife, 1909, from Pittsburgh; as cited in George Hendrik Breitner in Amsterdam, J. F. Heijbroek, Erik Schmitz; uitgeverij THOTH, Bussum, 2014, p. 22
Breitner took part in an art-jury in Pittsburgh in 1909. He started to make some sketches from a window at the back-side of the Carnegie Institute and later the painting]
1900 - 1923

Philip Schaff photo
Aryabhata photo

“Translates to: for a triangle, the result of a perpendicular with the half-side is the area.”

Aryabhata (476–550) Indian mathematician-astronomer

Source: Arijit Roy “The Enigma of Creation and Destruction”, p. 27 from the Ganitapada, quoted in "The Enigma of Creation and Destruction".

Leopold Zunz photo

“A religion, which is not able or no more able to raise to the height of acquired science, is a dead religion.”

Leopold Zunz (1794–1886) German Reform Rabbi

Eine Religion, welche nicht oder nicht mehr fähig ist, sich auf die Höhe der erworbenen Wissenschaft zu erheben, ist eine tote Religion.
Quoted in Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichte und Landeskunde, Volume 75, p. 127

Ambrose Bierce photo
Alexis De Tocqueville photo

“In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils it creates”

Pour recueillir les biens inestimables qu'assure la liberté de la presse, il faut savoir se soumettre aux maux inévitables qu'elle fait naître.
Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter X-XIV, Chapter XI.

Owain Owain photo

“'If we win the Welsh Heartland, then we win Wales; if we lose the Welsh Heartland, it is not Wales that we win.”

Owain Owain (1929–1993) Welsh novelist, short story writer and poet

Y Cymro, 12/11/1964
Source: http://owainowain.net/yllenor/yrysgrif/ysgrifaucynnar/ysgrifaucynnar.htm#Y%20DYSTIOLAETH%20BRYDEINIG Y Cymro, 12/11/1964; republished in Bara Brith

Charles Alexandre de Calonne photo

“If it is only difficult, it is done; if it is impossible, we shall see.”

Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734–1802) French statesman

Si cela n'est que difficile, c'est fait; si cela est impossible, nous verrons.
Response to Marie Antoinette when she informed him that something she needed done might be difficult.
Quoted by François Guizot in Biographie Universelle, Volume 6 http://books.google.com/books?id=za4FAAAAQAAJ&q=%22n'est+que+difficile+c'est+fait+si+cela+est+impossible+nous+verrons%22&pg=PA567#v=onepage (1812)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“The Koran cannot be translated — the "map" changes on translation no matter how carefully one tries.”

Robert A. Heinlein (1907–1988) American science fiction author

Robert A. Heinlein, in Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)

Aryabhata photo

“Translates to: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached. Thus according to the rule ((4 + 100) × 8 + 62000)/20000 = 62832/20000 = 3.1416, which is accurate to five significant figures.”

Aryabhata (476–550) Indian mathematician-astronomer

The irrationality of pi was proved by Lambert in Europe in the year 1761.
Source: Arijit Roy The Enigma of Creation and Destruction http://books.google.co.in/books?id=JFmUQqYzA7wC&pg=PA27, Author House, 28 October 2011, p. 27

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo
Roger Garrison photo

“Except for Marxian theories, nearly all modern theories of the business cycle have essential elements that trace back to Knut Wicksell's turn-of-the-century writings on interest and prices. Austrians, New Classicists, Monetarists, and even Keynesians can legitimately claim a kinship on this basis. Accordingly, the recognition, that both the Austrians and the New Classicists have a Swedish ancestry does not translate into a meaningful claim that the two schools are essentially similar. To the contrary, identifying their particular relationships to Wicksellian ideas, like comparing the two formally similar business-cycle theories themselves, reveals more differences than similarities. … [T]o establish the essential difference between the Austrians and the New Classicists, it needs to be added that the focus of the Austrian theory is on the actual market process that translates the monetary cause into the real phenomena and hence on the institutional setting in which this process plays itself out.The New Classicists deliberately abstract from institutional considerations and specifically deny, on the basis of empirical evidence, that the interest rate plays a significant role in cyclical fluctuations (Lucas 1981, p. 237 151–1). Thus, Wicksell's Interest and Prices is at best only half relevant to EBCT. … Taking the Wicksellian metaphor as their cue, the New Classicists are led away from the pre-eminent Austrian concern about the actual market process that transforms cause into effect and towards the belief that a full specification of the economy's structure, which is possible only in the context of an artificial economy, can shed light on an effect whose nature is fundamentally independent of the cause.”

Roger Garrison (1944) American economist

Pages 98–99.
"New Classical and Old Austrian Economics", 1991

Ilana Mercer photo

“Iraq hasn't suddenly 'slipped back into' this backward and benighted state. It was bombed there by a mulish military power which didn't know Shiite from Shinola. [translated from German]”

Ilana Mercer South African writer

"Irak: Von Tuten und Blasen keine Ahnung gehabt" http://jungefreiheit.de/kolumne/2014/irak-von-tuten-und-blasen-keine-ahnung-gehabt/, Junge Freiheit, June 27, 2014.
2010s, 2014

“O men! be just Give aid first and counsel afterwards.”

Camillo Federici (1749–1802) Italian actor and playwright (1749-1802)

Eh! uomini, slate giusti. Prima soccorrete, e poi consigliate.
Il Delatore, Act III, Sc. I. — (Lucia).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 298.

Kurt Waldheim photo

“I did nothing during the war that was not also done by hundreds of thousands of Austrians, that was my duty as a soldier.”

Kurt Waldheim (1918–2007) 4th Secretary-General of the United Nations, President of Austria

Ich habe im Krieg nichts anderes getan als hunderttausende Österreicher auch, nämlich meine Pflicht als Soldat erfüllt.
Waldheim Affair http://derstandard.at/2000031874110/Ich-habe-im-Krieg-nichts-anderes-getan-als-meine-Pflicht, 9 March 1986

François Andrieux photo

“Princes' sports are these:
A mill they'll spare: a province they will seize.”

François Andrieux (1759–1833) French man of letters and playwright

Ce sont là jeux de prince:
On respecte un moulin: on vole une province.
Le Meunier de Sans-Souci. (Ed. 1818, Vol. III., p. 208).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 24.

Albert Einstein photo

“On quantum theory I use up more brain grease (rough translation of German idiom) than on relativity.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Quoted by Otto Stern, a colleague of Einstein in Zurich from 1912 to 1914, in a 1962 oral history interview http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4904.html with Thomas S. Kuhn
Attributed in posthumous publications

Francesco Dall'Ongaro photo

“Too many for the fruit cut down the tree,
And find their gain in world-wide misery.”

Francesco Dall'Ongaro (1808–1873) Italian poet, playwright and librettist

Troppi taglian la pianta per i frutti,
E traggono lor pro dal mal di tutti.
Stornelli Politici, "Gaetano Semenza", II.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 428.

“Faction is the greatest evil and the most common danger. "Faction" is the conventional English translation of the Greek stasis, one of the most remarkable words to be found in any language.”

Moses I. Finley (1912–1986) American historian

Source: Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985), Chapter 2, Athenian Demagogues, p. 44

Marco Denevi photo

“A dictator is often a revolutionary who has made a name for himself. A revolutionary is often a bourgeois who hasn't.”

A menudo un dictador es un revolucionario que hizo carrera. A menudo un revolucionario es un burgués que no la hizo.
Falsificaciones (1977)

Roberto Mangabeira Unger photo
Jozef Israëls photo

“Too literary. (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

Jozef Israëls (1824–1911) Dutch painter

version in Dutch (citaat van Jozef Israëls, in het Nederlands): Te literair.
short note in Israëls' Journal, 12 Dec. 1903, (in Jan Veth 1903, nr. 6); as cited in Jozef Israëls, 1824 – 1911, ed. Dieuwertje Dekkers; Waanders, Zwolle 1999, p. 199
Israëls was citing here Sientje Mesdag-van Houten who was characterizing his work that day; several of Israëls' paintings were present in the collection of Mr and Mrs Mesdag
Quotes of Jozef Israels, after 1900

“Translation came naturally to me because as a child I was translated from Germany to Britain.”

Michael Hamburger (1924–2007) British translator, poet, critic, memoirist and academic

Interview with Lidia Vianu http://lidiavianu.scriptmania.com/Michael%20Hamburger.htm

Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau photo

“This Duhamel has invented an infinity of machines which serve no purpose, has written and translated a multitude of books on agriculture, of which it is not known if they have any useful result, that is still awaited.”

Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau (1700–1782) French naval engineer, botanist and agronomist

Denis Diderot, Oeuvres complètes de Diderot: revues sur les éditions originales, comprenant ce qui a été publié à diverses époques et les manuscrits inédits, conservés à la Bibliothèque de l'Ermitage, notices, notes, table analytique, Volume 11. Garnier frères, 1767. p. 366

Helmut Kohl photo

“Revenue and cost have to be in the right relation to each other.”

Helmut Kohl (1930–2017) former chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and then the united Germany (1990-1998)

Erträge und Kosten müssen im richtigen Verhältnis zueinander stehen.
In a speech in Düsseldorf in 1986

C. Wright Mills photo
Kuba Wojewódzki photo

“In my opinion you are a little similar to Rudolph Valentino. I don't know if you remember such an actor. It is a great direction for you - he acted in silent films.”

Kuba Wojewódzki (1963) Polish journalist

Dla mnie jesteś trochę jak Rudolph Valentino, nie wiem, czy pamiętasz takiego bohatera kina. Znakomity kierunek dla ciebie: on był bohaterem kina niemego.
To Idol contestants

Carl Linnaeus photo

“The best critic of a translation is its second translation and nothing else. The person who translates a text should have something to say about that.”

Media Kashigar (1956–2017) Iranian translator, writer and poet

Source: The best critic of a translation is its second translation, Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia, 2013 https://www.cgie.org.ir/fa/news/3001

Kuba Wojewódzki photo

“Have you seen "The Silence of the Lambs"? What were the lambs doing? They were keeping silent. I wish you doing it as well.”

Kuba Wojewódzki (1963) Polish journalist

Widziałaś film "Milczenie owiec"?
Co robiły owce? Milczały. Czego i tobie życzę.
To Idol contestants

Rita Verdonk photo

“You have not become an entrepreneur to fill in forms full time.”

Rita Verdonk (1955) Dutch politician

Slogan used on Rita Verdonk's weblog http://www.ritaverdonk.net/ retrieved 25 November 2007.

George Hendrik Breitner photo

“Hartenstraat - the air is strong light - houses, illuminated from the top, left - flags translucent (translation from the original Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek)”

George Hendrik Breitner (1857–1923) Dutch painter and photographer

version in original Dutch / werk-notities van Breitner, in het Nederlands:
Hartenstraat - 1 uur 's middags - de vlaggen werpen schaduw op de huizen
Hartenstraat - de lucht is sterk licht - huizen, links van boven verlicht - vlaggen doorschijnend
two working-notes, (1890-1895) from his sketch-books; as cited in George Hendrik Breitner in Amsterdam, J. F. Heijbroek, Erik Schmitz; uitgeverij THOTH, Bussum, 2014, p. 38
1890 - 1900

Philip Schaff photo

“The Pre-Lutheran German Bible. The precise origin of the mediaeval German Bible is still unknown. Dr. Ludwig Keller of Münster first suggested in his Die Reformation und die älteren Reformparteien, Leipzig, 1885, pp. 257-260, the hypothesis that it was made by Waldenses (who had also a Romanic version); and he tried to prove it in his Die Waldenser und die deutschen Bibelübersetzungen, Leipzig, 1886 (189 pages). Dr. Hermann Haupt, of Würzburg, took the same ground in his Die deutsche Bibelübersetzung der mittelalterlichen Waldenser in dem Codex Teplensis und der ersten gedruckten Bibel nachgewiesen, Würzburg, 1885 (64 pages); and again, in self-defense against Jostes, in Der waldensische Ursprung des Codex Teplensis und der vor-lutherischen deutschen Bibeldrucke, Würzburg, 1886. On the other hand, Dr. Franz Jostes, a Roman Catholic scholar, denied the Waldensian and defended the Catholic origin of that translation, in two pamphlets: Die Waldenser und die vorlutherische Bibelübersetzung, Münster, 1885 (44 pages), and Die Tepler Bibelübersetzung. Eine zweite Kritik, Münster, 1886 (43 pages). The same author promises a complete history of German Catholic Bible versions.
The hostility of several Popes and Councils to the circulation of vernacular translations of the Bible implies the existence of such translations, and could not prevent their publication, as the numerous German editions prove. Dutch, French, and Italian versions also appeared among the earliest prints. See Stevens, Nos. 687 and 688 (p. 59 sq.). The Italian edition exhibited in 1877 at London is entitled: La Biblia en lingua Volgare (per Nicolo di Mallermi). Venetia: per Joan. Rosso Vercellese, 1487, fol. A Spanish Bible by Bonif. Ferrer was printed at Valencia, 1478 (see Reuss, Gesch. der heil. Schr. N. T., II. 207, 5th Ed.).
The Bible is the common property and most sacred treasure of all Christian churches. The art of printing was invented in Catholic times, and its history goes hand in hand with the history of the Bible. Henry Stevens says (The Bibles in the Caxton Exhibition, p. 25): ""The secular history of the Holy Scriptures is the sacred history of Printing. The Bible was the first book printed, and the Bible is the last book printed. Between 1450 and 1877, an interval of four centuries and a quarter, the Bible shows the progress and comparative development of the art of printing in a manner that no other single book can; and Biblical bibliography proves that during the first forty years, at least, the Bible exceeded in amount of printing all other books put together; nor were its quality, style, and variety a whit behind its quantity.""”

Philip Schaff (1819–1893) American Calvinist theologian

Roman Catholic rival German versions of the Bible

Larry Wall photo

“It is, of course, written in Perl. Translation to C is left as an exercise for the reader.”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

[7448@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1990]
Usenet postings, 1990

Angela Merkel photo

“The state has to assist and must not constrict. In this spirit it has to be the gardener and not the fence. We should be confident that the people want to get [socially] involved and want to assume responsibility.”

Angela Merkel (1954) Chancellor of Germany

Der Staat muss fördern und darf nicht einschränken. In diesem Sinne muss er Gärtner sein und nicht Zaun. Wir sollten den Menschen zutrauen, dass sie sich engagieren und Verantwortung übernehmen wollen.
Interview in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (sueddeutsche.de) on May 20, 2006
2006

“A litigant to winning so devotes his energies
That he never gives his neighbours or himself a moment’s rest,
But for every other pleasure he has neither ears nor eyes.”

Pietro Nelli (1672–1740) Italian painter

Un litigante è di vincer si ingordo,
Che non dà a se, o altrui pace o riposo,
Ma ad ogni altro piacer è cieco e sordo.
Satire, II., IX. — "Peccadigli degli Avvocati."
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 432.

Marshall McLuhan photo

“The visual power of the phonetic alphabet is the translate other languages into itself is part of its power to invade right hemisphere (oral) cultures.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Source: 1980s, Laws of Media: The New Science (with Eric McLuhan) (1988), p. 74

Alexandre Dumas photo

“The chains of wedlock are so heavy that it takes two to carry them; sometimes three.”

Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist

Les chaînes du mariage sont si lourdes qu'il faut être deux pour les porter; quelquefois trois.
Attributed to Dumas in: Elizabeth Abbott, Une histoire des maîtresses http://books.google.gr/books?id=fEsPUICzDY4C&dq=, Les Éditions Fides, 2004, p. 16.
Attributed

Cyrano de Bergerac photo
Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac photo

“Public utility is often served by the injury of individuals.”

Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac (1597–1654) French author, best known for his epistolary essays

L'utilité publique se fait sou vent du dommage des particuliers.
Le Prince (1631), Chap. XVII.
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 101.

Hans Blüher photo
P. W. Botha photo

“Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it.”

P. W. Botha (1916–2006) South African prime minister

As cited in Dictionary of South African Quotations, Jennifer Crwys-Williams, Penguin Books 1994, p. 22

Romário photo

“"When I was born, God pointed at me and said “That’s the man"”

Romário (1966) Brazilian association football player

Quando eu nasci, Deus apontou o dedo em minha direção e disse: esse é o cara.
Source: esportes.terra.
Context: When he signed with Fluminense in 2002.

Jozef Israëls photo

“You should write about me, just like you did about Degas (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

Jozef Israëls (1824–1911) Dutch painter

version in original Dutch (citaat van de tekst van Jozef Israëls, in het Nederlands): Net zoals over
Remark of Israëls in a talk with the German painter Max Liebermann, c. 1899-1900, drinking coffee together in Scheveningen; as cited and translated by J. Sillevis and others, in exhibition catalog 'Lieberman en Holland, Haags Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag 1980, pp. 15-16
Quotes of Jozef Israels, 1871 - 1900

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad photo
Gerrit Benner photo

“It's all about the atmosphere of nature, for sure, but I want the painting to arouse clarity, cheerfulness. When it is finished, then I have to live with it, that's why it must become a pleasant thing. Sun. Clarity. Never white-black, because there are so many shades in between! (translation from Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)”

Gerrit Benner (1897–1981) Dutch painter

version in original Dutch (citaat van Gerrit Benner, in het Nederlands:) Het gaat om de sfeer van de natuur, zeker, maar ik wil dat het schilderij klaarte, vrolijkheid opwekt. Als zo'n ding af is, dan moet ik ermee leven, daarom moet het prettig zijn. Zon. Klaarte. Nooit wit-zwart, want daar zijn zoveel tinten tussen!
quoted by Hans Redeker (before 1967), in Gerrit Benner; Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1967; as cited by Susan van den Berg in 'Benner en Bregman', website 'de Moanne' http://www.demoanne.nl/benner-en-bregman/, 1 Sept. 2008, note xx
1950 - 1980

Marcel Duchamp photo
Walter Benjamin photo

“There is no muse of philosophy, nor is there one of translation.”

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German literary critic, philosopher and social critic (1892-1940)

"The Task of the Translator," translated by Harry Zohn

Rita Verdonk photo

“I am not left winged, I am not right winged. I am straight forward.”

Rita Verdonk (1955) Dutch politician

Slogan used on Rita Verdonk's weblog http://www.ritaverdonk.net/ retrieved 25 November 2007.

George Lakoff photo
Helmut Kohl photo

“The German Reunification and unification of Europe are two sides of the same coin.”

Helmut Kohl (1930–2017) former chancellor of West Germany (1982-1990) and then the united Germany (1990-1998)

Die deutsche Einheit und die europäische Einigung sind zwei Seiten ein und derselben Medaille.
In a speech on the 15th party congress of the CDU, in Frankfurt an Main (June 17, 2002)

George Borrow photo

“Translation is at best an echo.”

Source: Lavengro (1851), Ch. 25

Robert J. Sawyer photo

“I assume that a precisely defined, verifiable, executable, and translatable UML is a Good Thing and leave it to others to make that case… In the summer of 1999, the UML has definitions for the semantics of its components. These definitions address the static structure of UML, but they do not define an execution semantics. They also address (none too precisely) the meaning of each component, but there are "semantic variation points" which allow a component to have several different meanings. Multiple views are defined, but there is no definition of how the views fit together to form a complete model. When alternate views conflict, there is no definition of how to resolve them. There are no defined semantics for actions…
To determine what requires formalization, the UML must distinguish clearly between essential, derived, auxiliary, and deployment views. An essential view models precisely and completely some portion of the behavior of a subject matter, while a derived view shows some projection of an essential view…
All we need now is to make the market aware that all this is possible, build tools around the standards defined by the core, executable UML, and make it so…”

Stephen J. Mellor (1952) British computer scientist

Mellor in Andy Evans et al. (1999) " Advanced methods and tools for a precise UML http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.115.2039&rep=rep1&type=pdf." UML’99—The Unified Modeling Language. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 709-714.

Michael Polanyi photo
Rembrandt van Rijn photo
Robert Frost photo
William Julius Mickle photo
Ernst Gombrich photo
Rembrandt van Rijn photo

“Autograph inscription on Rembrandt's drawing of the old City hall of Amsterdam, 9 July 1652; Benesch 1278 (translation from the original Dutch: Anne Porcelijn)”

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) Dutch 17th century painter and etcher

Rembrandt made this drawing two days after the old Town-hall at Dam square in Amsterdam was burned out; the spotlight attracted a lot of attention and various artists have drawn the remains of the historic building. Two days after the fire, Rembrandt laid down the ruins of the building in a drawing. He made the sketch on the spot, standing or seated at (or in) the old daring building on the Dam, as he himself wrote in the inscription. http://remdoc.huygens.knaw.nl/#/document/remdoc/e1643
1640 - 1670

Willem Roelofs photo

“I will soon have finished another drawing [= watercolor], in the spirit as Den Tessaro [art-seller in Antwerp] wished another one, that is 'airy' and 'thin', with 'lots of space', etc.-. (translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)”

Willem Roelofs (1822–1897) Dutch painter and entomologist (1822-1897)

(original Dutch: citaat van Willem Roelofs, in het Nederlands:) Ik zal binnenkort eene andere teekening [= aquarel] gereed hebben, in den geest zoals Den Heer Tessaro [kunst-handelaar in Antwerpen] er nog een wenschte, namenlijk 'luchtig' en 'dun', met 'veel ruimte', etc.-.
In a letter to art-seller Frans Buffa in Amsterdam, 1874; ; as cited in Willem Roelofs 1822-1897 De Adem der natuur, ed. Marjan van Heteren & Robert-Jan te Rijdt; Thoth, Bussum - ISBN13 * 978 90 6868 4322, 2006, p. 57
1870's

E. M. S. Namboodiripad photo
Arnold Schwarzenegger photo
Abdul Halim of Kedah photo
John Mandeville photo
Raymond Radiguet photo

“Every age bears its fruits, it's all in knowing how to harvest them.”

Raymond Radiguet (1903–1923) French writer

Tout âge porte ses fruits, il faut savoir les cueillir.
Raymond Radiguet: Le bal du comte d'Orgel. Paris 1924. P. 15.

Talcott Parsons photo

“Even the wolves cease their depredations, when they have secured all the prey.”

Alessandro Pepoli (1757–1796) Italian writer

Si fermano anche i lupi quando hanno afferrato la preda.
La Scommessa, Act I., Sc. I. — (Il Marchese.). Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 417.

Łukasz Pawlikowski photo

“When I was a few years, often approached the door of the room where my mother exactly practicing, listened to sounds and imagined this music.”

Łukasz Pawlikowski (1997) Polish cellist

Kiedy miałem kilka lat, często podchodziłem do drzwi pokoju, w którym akurat ćwiczyła mama, wsłuchiwałem się w dźwięki i wyobrażałem sobie tę muzykę.
A little cellist from Krakow conquers the world, warszawa.naszemiasto.pl, 2008-04-02, Polish http://warszawa.naszemiasto.pl/archiwum/1664386,maly-wiolonczelista-z-krakowa-podbija-swiat,id,t.html,

Francis Place photo
Plautus photo

“Things we hope not for oftener come to pass than things we wish for. (translated by Thornton)”
Insperata accidunt magis saepe quam que speres.

Act I, scene 3, line 42.
Variant translation: Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope. (translator unknown)
Mostellaria (The Haunted House)

Simonides of Ceos photo

“[Word-for-word translation]
O stranger, announce to the Lacadaemonians [Spartans] that here
We lie, to their words [or laws] obedient.”

Simonides of Ceos (-556–-468 BC) Ancient Greek musician and poet

Go, tell the Spartans, stranger passing by
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
Epitaph on the Cenotaph of Thermopylae, recorded by Herodotus.
There is a long unsolved dispute around the interpretation of the word rhemasi, such as laws, words or orders.
Variant translations:
Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by,
That here obedient to their laws we lie.
Stranger, go tell the men of Lacedaemon
That we, who lie here, did as we were ordered.
Stranger, bring the message to the Spartans that here
We remain, obedient to their orders.
Oh foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians
That here we lie, obeying their words.
Go, tell the Spartans, passerby,
that here by Spartan law we lie.
Go, tell the Spartans
stranger passing by,
that here, obedient to Spartan law,
we dead of Sparta lie

Abdul Halim of Kedah photo