Nothing which is harmonized by the bond of the Muse can be changed from its own to another language without destroying its sweetness
You know, they say in France that translation is like a woman: she is either beautiful or faithful.
Fidelity to meaning alone in translation is a kind of betrayal.
The clumsiest literal translation is a thousand times more useful than the prettiest paraphrase.
Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as is possible, and moves the reader towards him: or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.
Drill in exact translation is an excellent way of disposing the mind against that looseness and exaggeration with which the sensationalists have corrupted our world. If schools of journalism knew their business, they would graduate no one who could not render the Greek poets.
I never read the translation before publication. The most important things for me is that the emotion is captured in such a way that the feelings that are in the original are there, much more than the details, if they are right or wrong.
I will venture to assert, that a just translation of any ancient poet in rhyme is impossible. No human ingenuity can be equal to the task of closing every couplet with sounds homotonous, expressing at the same time the full sense, and only the full sense of his original.
